The Three from the Rain Village
by ncfan
Summary: What if Yahiko, Nagato and Konan had followed Jiraiya back to Konoha? A series of drabbles.
1. Hotel

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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The hotel room in Kusagakure was small and cramped, barely sized to accommodate two people, let alone four.

Jiraiya had had to sneak the three of them in there, claiming that he was the only one, so he'd have enough money to pay for a night there. He had hoped those three kids would appreciate what he was doing for them.

They didn't.

"Can we _please_ just go outside for a little while?" Yahiko asked desperately for what must have been the seventh time.

Nagato and Yahiko were going to be sleeping on one of the twin beds, Konan on the other. Jiraiya was occupying the easy chair, watching the news on the black and white television set, and pointedly ignoring his orange-haired student.

"_Please_, Jiraiya-sensei!!" He was desperate; Jiraiya wasn't sure why. Of course, Yahiko was slightly claustrophobic, so that might have had something to do with it. "Nagato and I just want to go stand on the balcony for a couple of minutes."

"For the last time, no! You'll get us all in trouble if you're caught, and I really don't want to spend the night in lock-up."

He shot a slightly exasperated glance at Konan, who sat on the other bed, legs folded beneath her, and she simply shrugged.

"This was your idea, sensei, not mine."


	2. Plant

I'm going to try and keep these drabbles in chronological order as much as I can, and thanks to **Ayase Reincarnated** for reviewing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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"Jiraiya-sensei, what is this plant?"

Nagato, Jiraiya was beginning to realize, liked plant life.

The red-haired boy was crouched over a small flower slightly off the forest path, staring at it intently.

Yahiko and Konan stopped as Jiraiya went and knelt beside Nagato.

It was a small white flower with a daisy-like wide yellow disc, but it wasn't a daisy; it was too small to be one.

Jiraiya frowned as he remembered the horticulture class he'd been forced to take in the Academy so he'd know which plants were good for making poisons and which were good for antiseptics, anti-venoms, emetics, et cetera.

Finally, he got an idea of what it was. "I could be wrong, but I think it's aster." He fingered the small petals gingerly.

Nagato frowned. "I've never seen this plant before."

Jiraiya snorted. "I'm not surprised. Aster doesn't grow in Ame no Kuni; it's too wet there. I think most flowers in Ame no Kuni that you'd see in a florist's shop are all grown in greenhouses."

Nagato nodded, satisfied with this. They all kept on walking, slowly in the humid heat that characterized the forests on the border of Kusa no Kuni and Hi no Kuni.

Thirty minutes later:

"Jiraiya-sensei, what is _this_ plant called?"


	3. Konoha

Welcome to new reviewers **Annacat 101, -PENUCHI-, LacrimosaDiesIlla, Masu Trout, SkywardShadow, **and **Gaaras1Girl**.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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Konan sees the walls first. The massive trees (she can't get over how much bigger the trees in the heart of Hi no Kuni are than anywhere else she's ever been; she feels small and dwarfed by them, and the lack of undergrowth makes her a little nervous for some reason) suddenly start to break away to reveal the walls. They loom in the distance, stretching up towards the sky, uniform and light brown.

She tugs on Jiraiya's sleeve and points towards the wall. "That's Konohagakure, isn't it sensei?"

He grins. "You bet, kiddo."

Konan looks over at her teammates and smiles; out of all of them, she is happiest with the new change. It's nice living in a new town, an exciting venture when you don't have to leave all your friends behind because they're coming with you.

Nagato and Yahiko aren't as enthusiastic. They are shooting the walls uncertain looks; Yahiko is frowning slightly, his bright blue eyes narrowed against the glaring sun.

They can not forget their parents, and even though Konan can't forget either, they can not shake the memories off like she can. Konan bites her lip, and hopes they'll be happy in their new home.

.

"I think I see him," Tsunade mutters.

Tsunade and Sarutobi know in advance that Jiraiya is coming back to Konoha after his four-month long venture in Amegakure. They decided to wait at the gates for him; Orochimaru has been dragged out there by his teammate.

Then, as Jiraiya gets closer, Tsunade realizes that there are three smaller people with him. Her mouth falls open slightly. "I don't believe it." She shakes her head irritably. "He actually brought those three kids back with him!"

She spots the three kids that they had run into in Ame. Two boys, one with orange and the other with red hair, and a blue-haired girl with them.

Tsunade can't deny that she's angry with her teammate. He already has a student, and unless she's very much mistaken, he's going to start mentoring the Uzumaki twins before too long. But at the same time, she can't blame him. She wouldn't have been able to leave those kids behind in the hell hole called Amegakure in clear conscience herself.

Sarutobi frowns at her. "Are you sure those are same children? Those three are teenagers; the impression you gave me were of much younger children than the three with Jiraiya."

Tsunade shrugs. "They were malnourished." Her lip twitches, remembering how skeletally thin all three of them were. "That can make a child seem much younger than they actually are. Jiraiya's obviously been feeding them properly since then."

As the four of them get closer, the three children notice Tsunade, Sarutobi and Orochimaru standing there. To the former two they give blank stares. To Orochimaru however… He promptly finds himself on the receiving end of a death glare, a frown and a look of inherent distrust.

Tsunade smiles wickedly and whispers in her teammate's ear. "They seem to remember you."

Orochimaru pulls a face that is both weary and uncaring. But most of all, it just screams, _'Good grief.'_

Tsunade tries not to laugh.

* * *

I know that in the canon, Jiraiya stayed in Ame for much longer than four months. A couple of years, I think. But it doesn't really fit into the timeline of my personal/head canon that he should stay that long, so I've shortened the period. Also, I've always wondered how Konan and Pein/Nagato handled having Orochimaru in the Akatsuki when he recommended killing them so long ago.


	4. Minato

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

The moment they got through the threshold of Jiraiya's apartment, Yahiko, Konan and Nagato came face to face with a fair-haired boy their own age with eyes even bluer than Yahiko's.

Jiraiya greeted him casually. "The village been quiet, Minato?"

Minato smiled brightly. "Sure. The Chunin Exams are coming up. These are the kids from Ame Tsunade-san mentioned, right? Are they going to be taking it too?"

An awkward silence fell over the apartment. The three stared at Minato and Minato stared back at them. Then, Yahiko effectively shattered the silence by exclaiming, "Jiraiya-sensei! You never told us you had another student back here!"

"Three actually."

Once the silence was gone, the teenagers fell into a comfortable state of chattering, and Jiraiya's fears were effectively relieved. Minato got on well with Yahiko and Nagato, and Konan was content to stand to the side and watch, smiling as the sunlight poured in through the window of the small apartment.

"Does he work you guys as hard as he works me?"

"You bet! It's worth it, though."

About fifteen minutes later, Uzumaki Kushina and Arashi come home from a grocery store, and the two were added to the mix. Konan didn't seem to know whether to be flattered or slightly annoyed that Kushina insisted on calling her 'neechan'.

Jiraiya looked around, smiling in his relief that there weren't going to be problems between all the kids, and suddenly realized that he was going to have to find a bigger apartment to fit them all.


	5. Rinnegan

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"Are you alright with all those kids in your apartment?"

Tsunade handed the glasses of sake to Jiraiya and Orochimaru and sat down with them at her kitchen table. Darkness spilled over the landscape outside; the clock on the wall read nine forty five at night.

"I'm gonna have to move into a larger apartment," Jiraiya admitted. "The one I'm in now is too small for all of us."

"Sakumo mentioned that his neighbors are moving," Tsunade supplied helpfully. "They have a big house and they're willing to sell it for cheap. You two are good friends; it might do him some good to have you nearby."

Jiraiya nodded. "Yeah." He took a deep sip out of the sake glass.

There was silence, for a moment, a silence in which Jiraiya could tell Tsunade was bracing to ask questions. Then, she finally spoke up.

"Why'd you bring those kids back with you?" Her voice was neither challenging nor entirely neutral, and Orochimaru silently looked up and stared intently at Jiraiya's face, waiting for his answer.

Jiraiya stared off into space for a moment, studying the shadows on the wall. He spoke in a flat, almost lazy voice. "It was because of Nagato."

Tsunade frowned. "Why did you even train that kid, anyway? I can understand Yahiko, and even Konan. They're both determined, and good fighters. But that kid Nagato isn't what I'd call good soldier material."

"He'll do what he has to to protect his friends. That can be a good motivation to fight, Tsunade."

Tsunade opened her mouth to argue, but Orochimaru interrupted her. "He has a point, Tsunade." Golden eyes turned on Jiraiya. "But I am curious, Jiraiya. What was it you saw in the boy that made you decide to train him? He is, as Tsunade says, unsuited for the life of a shinobi. He's not a killer."

Jiraiya didn't notice the sudden too-interested gleam in Orochimaru's eyes. Jiraiya instead looked at his teammates with a meaningful expression on his face. "This does not leave the room." He leaned in on the table. "Nagato has the Rinnegan."

"The Rinnegan?!" Tsunade explained. "That's impossible, Jiraiya!"

He glared at her. "You performed their physicals yourself. Don't even try to tell me you didn't notice something weird about Nagato's eyes when you performed his."

She shrugged, suddenly looking uncomfortable. "Yes, of course I noticed. But Konoha pumped a lot of gas—chlorine and otherwise—over Ame during the war. I just assumed it was a mutation resulting from that."

"It _is_ the Rinnegan, Tsunade. I've tested it out. Nagato can utilize jutsus requiring any chakra element; he can _see_ chakra like someone with the Sharingan or the Byakugan."

Tsunade shook her head, confused. "I don't get it. The Rinnegan dead-ended genetically so long ago; there shouldn't be anyone carrying the gene for it anymore.

"Look, Jiraiya. There are three great dojutsus in the world: the Sharingan, the Byakugan, and formerly the Rinnegan. There are more than just those three, but for the sake of simplicity let's limit it to these three. The Sharingan and the Byakugan are carried on the dominant allele; they're dominant genetic traits. I can only assume that the Rinnegan, for whatever reason, is a recessive trait, because while the number of Sharingan and Byakugan users increased throughout the centuries, becoming the Uchiha and Hyuuga clans, the number of Rinnegan users dwindled instead, eventually going extinct.

"Here's my point. The Rinnegan supposedly died out generations ago. How on earth did it just suddenly show up in a kid from Amegakure?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe both of his parents were carriers for the trait; when I asked he told me that neither of them had had eyes like his. The important thing is that he does have the Rinnegan. Look you two. I don't want this getting out. If it does there'll be too much pressure on the kid; I don't want that."

"Okay, okay." Tsunade held her hands up. "I won't tell anyone. I can barely believe it myself."

Jiraiya looked over at his other teammate. "And you Orochimaru?"

"Of course."

Neither of them noticed the calculating, hungrily avaricious look that had come over Orochimaru's face after Jiraiya mentioned the Rinnegan.

* * *

The last sentence should be setting off _huge_ alarm bells in your heads; there'll be a drabble much later addressing that.


	6. Moving

Welcome to new reviewer **bhut**.

To **bhut** and **LacrimosaDiesIlla**: That's not quite it. I'll let you stew it over.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Yahiko huffed and puffed as he carried a large box down the street. Nagato and Minato walked beside him, Konan and the other children a little ways behind.

"Good thing we don't have a whole lot of stuff, huh?" Yahiko raised his eyebrows and smiled at the two other boys.

Minato nodded. "No kidding."

Nagato said nothing, instead staring up at the sky. Light gray clouds gathered. Yahiko looked at him. "What about you, Nagato? What d'you think?"

Nagato looked at them, both staring back at him intently, his eye—the one his bangs parted to reveal—crinkling upwards slightly in a smile. "I think it's a good thing Jiraiya-sensei and Tsunade-san are carrying the _really_ heavy boxes."

"And these aren't?"

Nagato shrugged. "It could be worse. It could be raining."

Thunder rolled, and rain started to fall on them from directly overhead.

A sharp groan tore from Yahiko's lips. "You just had to say it, didn't you, Nagato?! Come on you guys, let's get to the new house before we drown!"

.

The new house, Yahiko was glad to see, was spacious and constructed in the old-fashioned style, with sliding shoji doors, wide open spaces and comfortable tatami mats.

The six of them were all soaked to the bone, gasping and carrying their boxes, which thankfully weren't soaked through the cardboard.

Jiraiya sat on the floor of the living room, smoking his pipe and staring at the wall. He looked up and stared at the kids. "Aw, shoot. I was afraid you guys wouldn't be able to beat the rain. Why didn't you just stay under an awning somewhere until the rain stopped?"

Yahiko glared at him and dropped the box. The other children followed suit. "Don't start, sensei."

Jiraiya smiled and stood up. "I'll go next door and ask Sakumo for some towels." He grabbed the umbrella. "There are three bedrooms down the hall. The closest one is mine; the one beyond that if for Yahiko, Nagato, Minato and Arashi, and the last one is for Kushina and Konan. Your clothes are in one of these boxes, I think, and I'll be right back."

.

While Jiraiya was gone, the kids took the opportunity to inspect the rooms.

Yahiko found something to be discontented about. "Hey! Why is the girls' room nicer than ours?!"

Little Arashi looked at him like it was obvious. "Because they're girls."

.

Jiraiya came back with two other people and many, many towels.

Yahiko and the others were unpacking the boxes and Yahiko stopped and stared when he saw the grown man with Jiraiya. They looked startlingly alike; he wondered if they were related.

The man had a melancholy look on his face, which lightened into a small smile when he laid eyes on Yahiko, Konan and Nagato. "So you three are the kids from Ame I've heard so much about?" He had a rich, sonorous voice.

Yahiko found himself smiling. "Yeah, we are."

"My name is Hatake Sakumo. I'm pleased to meet you."

Suddenly, a child peeped out from behind Sakumo's pant leg. He was without a doubt the man's son, and he was a small child, no more than five years old, with white hair the same shade as Jiraiya and Sakumo's, and wide black eyes.

Sakumo's eyes softened as he looked down at the child. "This is my son Kakashi."

Konan smiled sweetly when she looked at the boy. "Aww, he's so cute."

Kakashi glared at her, and piped up in a high-pitched voice, "I am _not_ cute!"

.

That night, as rain fell on the tin roof, Yahiko curled up under the tatami sheets, and, for the first time, dreamt of where he was now instead of where he had once been.


	7. Exam

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

The rain cleared up in time for the third exam of the Chunin Exams. The Ame trio had arrived too late to take part in the exams, but they all crowded into the stadium with Jiraiya and Tsunade to watch Minato fight.

"The line-up from Kiri's pretty impressive this year," Tsunade mentioned as a Mist genin had it out with a teenager from the Rock.

"Well, my money's on the Sand making the strongest showing of any of the foreign villages."

Tsunade scoffed. "Only two genin from Suna actually made it to the Third Exam."

Jiraiya grinned back at her. "You wonder why? They're your arch nemesis' students."

"Who?"

"Chiyo's. The little redhead's her grandson."

"Good grief! That woman already has grandchildren?!"

"Grandson, in singular. Sakumo told me yesterday that he had been confronted by a red-haired Sand genin telling him he had killed his parents."

The blonde winced. "Oh."

Finally the proctor shouted out, "Will Namikaze Minato and Sabure Karura please come down to the field?"

Nagato tugged on Jiraiya's sleeve when they came down, and pointed to the blonde girl standing opposite Minato. "Is that girl Minato's opponent?"

Jiraiya nodded. "Yeah. One of Chiyo's," he added for Tsunade's benefit. "Though if it's any consolation, in comparison to the other two this one's been positively neglected."

"Shut up, Jiraiya. I wanna watch the match."

The moment the proctor moved out of their way, the girl fell back several dozen yards from Minato, opening the massive iron fan she was carrying and dropping into a defensive position.

Minato went on the attack with a fire jutsu, and it was to the amazement of nearly everyone in the stadium—if Jiraiya squinted hard enough, he could make out a smirk on the redheaded Sand genin's face—when Karura blew it away as though it were nothing.

Jiraiya frowned. "Aren't Wind jutsus supposed to be weak against Fire jutsus?"

Beside him, Tsunade snorted. "Speaking as someone who has spent many years fighting the Sand, if a Wind jutsu is strong enough it can blow away just about anything. And this girl is supposed to be one of the best."

The fighting got fiercer, and as time went on it was clear the girl had Minato on the ropes.

Finally, it got to be too much for Yahiko to take. He stood up in his seat and screamed, "Come on, Minato, you can beat her! She's just a girl!"

Konan's head snapped around immediately. "Just a girl?" she asked dangerously, glaring at him.

Yahiko flinched. "Uhh, sorry, Konan…"

She rolled her eyes irritably. "We'll talk about this after the Exam's over."

Tsunade snickered. "The idiot should know better." Jiraiya couldn't figure out if she was talking about Minato or Yahiko.

Five minutes after that, Minato went down, either semi-conscious or fully passed out, when the girl got close enough to bring down her fan over the crown of his head.

He was made chunin anyway.

Konan was the only one who wasn't at least somewhat surprised.


	8. Clothes

Welcome to new reviewers **Duchess of Daydreams **and** wisdom-jewel.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Tsunade was sitting in the new kitchen when the lot of them got back from training. Everybody was sweating heavily and panting, from Jiraiya down to the Uzumaki twins, and Tsunade greeted with a strong wave of the hand to waft the air away from her nose. "Whew, I can tell what you lot have been doing!"

Minato, Kushina and Arashi filed down the hall to change clothes; Jiraiya poured a cup of water. Konan sat down at the kitchen table beside Tsunade; Nagato and Yahiko went into the living room and collapsed on the couch, conversing in tones Konan couldn't quite hear.

"What?" Tsunade looked at her over the top of her glass. "Aren't you going to change your clothes?"

Konan shrugged. "My other changes of clothes are all in the wash. I'll be alright until tomorrow."

Konan frowned as Tsunade put her glass down on the table hard and stared at the wall, a speculative look on her face. "That's it," the blonde muttered. She looked up at Jiraiya. "I'm taking the kid clothes shopping."

"What?!" Konan shrieked. She had never enjoyed shopping for clothes.

Jiraiya looked at his student and shook his head. "Just go with her, Konan. You're not going to convince Tsunade to leave you alone."

She frowned at him. "You're no help."

As Tsunade dragged her out of the house, she hissed to her teammates, _"Help!"_

Yahiko shrugged, and Nagato looked at her like he had no idea what was going on.

Konan resolved to dump the pepper shaker in their rice when supper came around.

"Come on, Konan. I know you're a little tomboy like Kushina, but I swear, you'll like it."

.

The world of the department store was a completely foreign land to Konan, and the sight of all the expensive, elegant clothes made her supremely nervous.

Tsunade dragged her over to the Juniors section. "Look. I'll be over in the Women's section. You just find something and try it on to make sure it fits; money is no object, so find whatever you like." Tsunade started to walk off, readjusting the strap of her purse. Just before she could no longer be seen due to clothing racks and cold, staring mannequins, she looked around and called, "Oh, and Konan? We're not leaving here until you find something so you _have_ to find something."

Tsunade disappeared.

Konan sighed, staring at the clothes racks with dread. She had always hated clothes shopping. "Oh, well," she murmured, looking down at her feet. "Maybe I'll actually find something I like."

Finally, Konan found two t-shirts exactly the same design but of different colors, and two pairs of blue jeans, and went to find Tsunade.

Tsunade started and stared when she saw what Konan was holding in her arms. She herself had nothing, suggesting that she had only been pretending to look for clothes. "That's it?" Tsunade inquired almost incredulously.

Konan nodded.

"Okay, let's go to the dressing room."

As Konan slipped into a stall and pulled off her shirt to try on one of the other shirts, she heard Tsunade mutter gloomily, "Just because she lives with all those boys doesn't mean she has to dress like one too. Kushina doesn't. And such a pretty girl, too. Oh, well, she'll grow out of it. Hopefully."

Konan smiled.


	9. Chunin

Welcome to new reviewers **Starfire201 **and **sandydragon.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

On the day he took the final exam, Yahiko won his fight.

It was against a Leaf genin who knew only Fire jutsus as far as ninjutsu went, and Yahiko was able to threaten him with drowning and nearly did drown him before the proctor called the match quits and declared Yahiko the winner.

It took all of four and a half minutes.

.

On the day she took the final exam, Konan fought to a draw.

She had been put against a Sand genin who used the same Wind jutsus as her, and they had nothing else to throw at each other apart from weapons. Konan's paper shuriken were surprisingly effective, and she could easily dodge the kunai and shuriken hurled at her by her opponent, but in the end, it came down to whose chakra reserves went deeper.

After a half hour of ducking and diving, the two girls collapsed on the ground, gasping and holding their weapons in their laps. Despite their insistent pleas otherwise, the proctor called the match a draw and dismissed them both from the field.

.

On the day he took the final exam, Nagato forfeited the match.

He was pitted against an Uchiha, a young boy two years his junior who fumbled his kunai but performed near perfect fireballs.

Nagato beat him handily, and had him backed up against the wall, kunai against his throat.

But as Nagato stared down at the boy glaring at him for all he was worth, he hesitated.

Nagato didn't care about what the proctor said, the exam being a real fight. It was just a match, and the boy didn't have to die. It wasn't a life or death situation; Nagato would not kill another over an exam.

"I forfeit."

.

They were all made chunin that day. The round of elders judging the candidates had been impressed with them, with Yahiko's ability to end a fight quickly, with Konan's stubborn tenacity, and with Nagato's discernment of the difference between a simulation and a real battle.

The three received hitai-ates that day as well as flak jackets. For the first time they were referred to as Leaf shinobi instead of "the three from Ame".

And out of them, only Yahiko had the nagging feeling in the back of his head, that there was something wrong with that.

* * *

It makes more sense to me that Nagato would show mercy in a situation like this. In a fight, Yahiko and at times even Konan will do what they have to; it makes them both good leaders in that they're willing to make the split-second decisions that will either bring them to victory or defeat. But Nagato is more likely to extend mercy, think about what decisions are more likely to result in a high number of casualties, and obsess over it.


	10. Kakashi

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"So…Sakumo wanted you to look after the kid."

Jiraiya and Yahiko sat in the waiting room of the office, waiting for Jiraiya to be called in again. Afternoon sunlight poured in a deep golden shade through the many windows, the clock ticking away the minutes being the only source of sound.

Jiraiya nodded, not smiling; he hadn't smiled since Kakashi had come running over to his house nearly a week earlier. His face was chiseled and grim, stony and not letting out any of his emotions. "Yeah; he specified it in his will. I've just got to finish signing the necessary paperwork."

Yahiko frowned. "He's your nephew, isn't he? Kakashi, I mean."

A slightly incredulous look from his sensei greeted him. "How did you know that?"

The fifteen-year-old shrugged. "You and Sakumo were pretty close. And you looked almost exactly alike. Does Kakashi know?"

Jiraiya shook his head miserably. "I don't know. Kakashi's smart, but Sakumo and I never right out said we were brothers." Jiraiya fell silent.

An uncomfortable twitch shook through Yahiko as he ran a hand through his orange hair. "I'm sorry, sensei," he muttered quietly.

Jiraiya's large, rough hand clapped Yahiko's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I saw this coming for months."

"What happened to Sakumo that made him so depressed?"

The heat of the office contrasted with the crisp autumn weather outside; Yahiko pulled off his jacket while Jiraiya talked.

"It was a mission about a year ago. Things got bad, and Sakumo was given the choice of saving the lives of his teammates and completing the mission.

"Well, he chose the former."

"Nagato would have approved," Yahiko interjected.

"Nagato isn't like most shinobi. When they got back to the village and the general population found out about what happened during the mission, the fallout was enormous. Sakumo went from being a well-respected shinobi to a pariah overnight. He couldn't go anywhere without being ridiculed, defamed and mocked. I think the only reason Sakumo held on as long as he did was because of his son."

Jiraiya looked at his student, and his eyes were grim and even angry. "But do you know what the worst part was? The people whose lives Sakumo saved on that mission, even they seemed to hate him for it."

"No accounting for gratitude," Yahiko agreed.

The receptionist called Jiraiya's name, and he stood up. As Jiraiya started to leave, Yahiko asked, "Jiraiya-sensei, what if they don't let you take care of Kakashi?"

The tall, white-haired man stared down at him, an uncommonly determined look in his eyes. "It's what Sakumo wanted. And even if they don't let me because of that, I'm Sakumo's next of kin. They can't stop me."

.

Kakashi had dead eyes, flat as a black pool, and it bothered Yahiko to see it. Minato was able to reach the boy, though just barely, and never deeply enough to break through that new deadened mask.

"He'll get better." Jiraiya tried to brush it off, even though he was worried. "Give him time." Jiraiya was proving himself to be a master of self-deception.

Yahiko shook his head. He knew better.

"Something's gotta give," he muttered gloomily, watching Kakashi sleep too lightly. "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but something's gotta give."


	11. Toad

Welcome to new reviewers **…** and **LonelyAura.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

The summer rains had let up enough for the forest clearing to be bright and sunny, and horribly humid to the point that Minato, Yahiko and Arashi had all stripped down to their undershirts.

They didn't know why Jiraiya had called them over there, or what they were going to be doing.

"The ground's not firm," Yahiko pointed out. "It's not like the weather's conducive to training outside right now."

Minato shrugged. "You know how sensei is. He's probably the most unpredictable man in town." Arashi nodded.

Yahiko glared up at the sun. "You'd still think he'd have the decency to actually show up on time, though," he muttered. "And why'd he only call us out here? Why not the others, too?"

At that moment, Jiraiya stepped out from behind a tree. Arashi started convulsively and Minato tried not to laugh at Yahiko's perfectly nervous expression; obviously he was afraid that Jiraiya had heard him.

"Sorry I'm late, boys," Jiraiya said casually, sitting down across from them. "I had to pick something up." He held up a scroll, smiling. "I'll be teaching you three something new today."

"What's that, sensei?" Minato asked.

"Toad summoning."


	12. Wings

About the last chapter, one of the reviewers asked, and I answered, but I decided I would put the answer in generally. About the toad summoning thing, Nagato wasn't there because Jiraiya figured that with his eyes, he could handle himself fine in battle. Since Kakashi summons dogs, him also summoning toads would be overkill. And the way I saw it, Jiraiya actually asked Kushina and Konan if they wanted to learn toad summoning, and they turned him down.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

The trio was on a mission, a mission to escort a diplomat with a bounty on his head to the Daimyo's palace, to be exact.

They ran into the very enemy nin who had been assigned to dispatch the diplomat, with predictable consequences.

Nagato panted as he tried to get a good feel of where the enemy nin were. He caught sight of a chakra signature behind a tree nearby. It wasn't Yahiko or Konan; he would have recognized theirs the moment he registered it. It wasn't the diplomat's chakra signature either*; it was definitely a shinobi's.

Nagato drew a kunai. _I think I'll go get his attention; hopefully, they'll get discouraged and run so I won't have to kill anyone this time._

Tensely, Nagato exposed himself, stepping out from behind the narrow ash tree, to reach the enemy nin. His eyes locked with the gray ones of the enemy, but before he could do anything a paper shuriken buried itself in the man's head. From a very odd angle.

A swish of wind in the nearly stagnant forest caught Nagato's attention. He looked up.

And his mouth fell open.

Konan smiled down at him, and flew away.

Nagato shook his head. _Just when I thought things couldn't get any stranger…_

"WHAT THE HELL??!!"

Nagato smiled. _Yahiko took it about the way I thought he would._

After the battle was done, the trio and the diplomat met up away from the bodies. The diplomat gaped at Konan as she fluttered to the ground, pushing his hat firmly on top of his head.

Yahiko looked hardly any less shocked. He folded his arms across his chest and stared at Konan. "Okay, Konan, I'm gonna go ahead and state the obvious. You have wings."

Said wings receded into her back as Konan put her cloak back on. She smiled sweetly at him. "Yes."

"I'm gonna go ahead and ask an obvious question. Why do you have wings?"

Konan shrugged. "I felt a bit…generic around you people. You have toad summoning and Nagato has his eyes. I needed a way to contribute to the group." She frowned slightly. "Are you complaining?"

Yahiko shook his head vigorously. "No, no," he denied quickly. "They look nice."

Ever since the incident at Minato's Chunin Exam, Yahiko had tried to avoid making Konan angry.

The wings would also explain why Konan had decided not to wear a flak jacket when Yahiko and Nagato had; the jacket probably got in the way when she used her wings.

As they started to walk on, Nagato caught Konan's eye and smiled. She smiled back.

A piece of origami paper slid out from under Konan's cloak.

* * *

*The way I see it, both shinobi and non-shinobi have chakra signatures (like in the Star Wars universe, in which nearly all sentient life forms possess a force signature) but that those who do not mould chakra do not have as noticeable a chakra signature as those who do.


	13. Storm

Welcome to new reviewer **kmz.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"…_and it has been the fifth day since the disappearance of the Sandaime Kazekage from Sunagakure. The Sand shinobi continue to make armed incursions into Hi no Kuni and the surrounding areas searching for their leader, and it is unknown if the Hokage and Konohagakure's Advisory Council will excuse their behavior or treat it as an act of war…"_

Sitting in the windowsill, Nagato stared at the sky. It was becoming an increasingly dark shade of gray, bordered by lighter gray and white, a churning maelstrom of angry clouds. A brisk, humid wind blew through the grass outside; the intense heat of summer beat on the windows, and thunder rolled in the distance.

He frowned. "Turn that off," he said to Konan, who was sitting at the kitchen table and was closest to the radio.

Konan turned the knob, and the radio cut out abruptly.

The sound of the clock ticked sharply in the background. Nagato sat in the windowsill, Konan at the kitchen table, and Yahiko leaned against the wall, arms folded against his chest with an especially grim expression on his face.

Nagato's eyes met Yahiko's. "Are you as bothered by this as I am?"

The orange-haired teen nodded. "Yeah, I am. How could the Kazekage just vanish? He's supposed to be the strongest shinobi in Suna's history."

Konan shrugged helplessly. "These things happen sometime. As I understand it, he likes to take walks in the desert at night and he's not exactly a young man, is he? He's nearly fifty."

Yahiko frowned. "His age shouldn't factor into it, Konan; Hokage-sama's the same age as Kazekage-sama, and would you want to take on him? The Kazekage's the only man left in Suna who possesses a kekkei genkai, and he's got a powerful one, too; from his reputation, I wouldn't want to meet this guy in a dark alley." His face darkened. "I don't think the Kazekage's been kidnapped; there would have been a ransom demand by now, unless the Sand nin aren't telling us something. And it would take more than a simple assassin to take out a kage."

"And now the Sand nin are making attacks in other countries," Nagato pointed out quietly. "They're out of control without their leader. They're in a state of panic; their defenses are down. Someone's going to try to take advantage of that eventually."

"And you're afraid that that "someone" will be us," Yahiko finished.

Nagato nodded, lip twisting. "Yes."

Konan winced; Yahiko sighed. "I don't blame you. How can I? Every single war that has ever gone on on this continent has either been caused or declared by Konoha. Why should now be any different?"

Konan rubbed her forehead. "It's all falling to pieces." She bit her lip, her hands twitching in her lap. "God, I had hoped this wouldn't happen again. It's only been two years since the last one."

Nagato grimaced, and pulled his knees closer to his chest. A few hundred yards away, the rain began to fall.


	14. War

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Jiraiya glared grimly at the sky, which reflected perfectly the general mood of the village. Dark, restless, and threatening to storm.

He had tried so hard to keep the cycle from starting all over again. He hadn't wanted to see another war, hadn't wanted to see the violence break out again. What had Senju Nawaki, Hatake Sakumo, Uzumaki Manami and every other person who had ever died during war died for if this was the legacy of their sufferings.

Jiraiya had a feeling, a bad feeling, that this war would be worst than the last two. All the signs pointed towards it; a generation more skilled than any previous had arisen, and naturally they would be more equipped to wage war to devastating ends.

Thunder crashed so loud as to be utterly deafening; rain began to fall hard and fast. Jiraiya ran out of the street and took shelter under a store awning, staring silently at the storm on the outside.

_This one's going to be worse…Worse than all the others combined. I just hope it doesn't end up being the end of us._

"Sensei." Jiraiya turned, and was confronted by all six of his students, Kakashi in tow, being led by the hand by Minato, who had more or less taken over Kakashi's care and training since he had made jonin along with the Ame trio a month ago.

Nagato was the one who spoke; the Ame trio was heading the crowd. The pale-faced boy was especially grim-faced, his arms crossing his chest.

"It's starting again, isn't it?"

Jiraiya stared at him for a moment, and then nodded, unable to say anything.

The reactions were diverse. The Uzumaki twins immediately began talking amongst themselves; Jiraiya couldn't tell if they were nervous, worried or just intensely interested by the state of affairs. Kakashi gave Minato a weary look, full of a knowledge a seven-year-old shouldn't have had; Minato returned the stare in full.

Konan covered her eyes with her hand, muttering something; Jiraiya couldn't tell what. Yahiko shook his head and growled. His reaction was closest to expressed anger out of any of them.

Nagato kept Jiraiya's gaze. He was grim, pulsating with an intense energy, his visible eye narrowed to a slit. And he alone seemed completely unsurprised.

The rain continued on with heightened intensity. It brought trash out of the gutters onto the flooded streets as the day wore on, and the vendors closed shop and moved to higher ground.

* * *

Coincidentally, it's pouring down rain where I am right now.


	15. ANBU

Welcome to new reviewer **Animus of Masada.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"You want to do _what_?"

Jiraiya, sitting down on the couch, stared up at Nagato like he had grown a second head as he looked at the paper his student had given him. Practically every one of the kids who occupied his house, plus Tsunade, were hanging nearby, feigning disinterest but in fact extremely interested in what would be said between them; Arashi was the only one who had listened when Jiraiya told the room to clear out.

Nagato stared down at him earnestly, his face set in a resolute cast. "You heard me, sensei. I want to join ANBU. I applied, and I was accepted."

"Have you lost your mind?!" Jiraiya exploded.

"I think it's cool that he wants to join ANBU!" Kushina piped up from the back of the living room, a bright, cheerful grin adorning her face.

Jiraiya glared at her. "Pipe down, Kushina; you're not helping." He turned his attention to Nagato again. "I'm going to ask again; have you lost your mind?"

Nagato returned glare for glare, stiffening slightly. "I want this; I can do it, I know I can."

Yahiko finally wasn't able to keep his mouth shut any longer. "Sensei, if Nagato really wants it, then I don't think—"

Jiraiya held up a hand. "Please. I can handle this without the rest of you running interference."

Wind heralding a storm battered on the door; Konan went to latch it shut more firmly. Jiraiya rubbed his forehead with his fingers, feeling a familiar headache coming on. "I can't see you in ANBU, Nagato. You hate killing, and that's about all ANBU does; they're professional assassins to the point that they make the rest of us look like amateurs."

The red-haired teenager said nothing. He continued to stare with that stubborn look that Jiraiya knew all too well.

Tsunade spoke up in Nagato's defense. "Jiraiya, if the kid is so set on this, then let him. If he burns out, he burns out, and they'll let him go," she pointed out brutally.

Jiraiya shot an even fiercer glare at Tsunade. "You know as well as I do that in wartime the only way anyone ever leaves ANBU is a box, Tsunade. I'm not gonna say this any more to any of you: butt out. And that's not the only thing, Nagato."

He sighed, pinching the skin between his eyes. Jiraiya had hoped he wouldn't be driven to this; he hadn't wanted to say it to Nagato, because considering the way the boy was he'd either not believe it or allow the information Jiraiya was about to impart on him to make him paranoid. "You have a powerful bloodline, Nagato. They will use you; they will bleed you dry until there's nothing left. They'll give you the worst missions, the most hopeless missions out of the lot, because they can, and because your kekkei genkai is one that heightens your chance of survival."

Jiraiya stared wearily at him. "Older and more experienced men have been ruined or killed because of this; I defy you to last six months in ANBU."

For a moment, Nagato said nothing. He was still glaring, stubborn and immovable. Then, what he said made Jiraiya feel even worse about the whole situation. "I don't need your consent for this," Nagato told him quietly, so quietly that the eavesdroppers had to strain to hear. "I'm not denying that I would have liked your approval, but this was just a courtesy. I made my mind up days ago."

Jiraiya sagged back in the couch, shaking his head in disbelief. "Why do you want this so badly?"

"I want to help, any way I can."

"You're insane."

It wasn't until late that night when rain was hitting the roof that Jiraiya realized that he dreaded the way life in the ANBU would change Nagato.

Jiraiya sat up on the tatami mat. Nagato was asleep on the mat two mats over to the left, Yahiko being between the two.

Jiraiya took a long, hard look at the boy's face, because he knew there was a good chance he'd never be like that again.


	16. Tenzo

This chapter is the reason the rating's been bumped up to T.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"_Thanks, Konan," Nagato murmured as she handed him the cup of tea and sat with him on the couch. Jiraiya, Yahiko and Minato were nearby._

"_So what happened, Nagato?"_

_He sighed, staring down into the tea. "It was just like anything else at first. We were in the north, near Kusa no Kuni, and my captain caught sight of a building hidden in the undergrowth…"_

"What's that?" Nagato heard Kazumichi-taicho ask, as the tall man stared through his hawk mask into the trees.

Nagato looked through his own mask, one of an otter, following Kazumichi-taicho's gaze.

He didn't see anything at first. The darkness of midnight was near-complete, the tall trees obscuring even the most persistent rays of moonlight. All Nagato could see was pitch blackness; even making out his own fingers was difficult.

Then, as he peered into the darkness, Nagato started to see something.

It was a small, low building, or the entrance to an underground facility. It had an arched, tiled roof, concrete walls, and a dark mouth of an entry way.

"Sanyu, Nagato, Chiasa, get out your glow sticks," Kazumichi murmured. "Let's see what's inside."

"_We went inside. It was darker than the night outside. The air was stagnant and immediately we noticed an odd smell…"_

Nagato sniffed the air, and almost gagged, coughing and staggering. He stumbled against a cool, rough wall, pressing his hands against it as hard as he could to keep from falling down the staircase.

"Oh, God, what is that smell?!" Sanyu exclaimed as Nagato scrabbled to retrieve his glow stick.

It was a sweet, musty, sickening smell. Overlying it was another. Copper stank in the stagnant air, casting a misty pall over the walls. Nagato recognized it as blood.

"_As we got further to the bottom, the smell got stronger. It was blood and decay we were smelling, and we discovered the source when we reached the base of the staircase."_

As they reached the final step, the smell was nearly overpowering. Chiasa was coughing her lungs out in the background, and Kazumichi-taicho cocked his head around sharply.

"There are several rooms down this hall. I want you lot to fan out and search each room; something happened here, and I want to find out what."

They spread out, opening and shutting wooden doors. Nagato found nothing that could be causing such a rotting, overpowering smell.

"Hey, guys?" Sanyu's voice echoed eerily in the hall. He sounded sick. "I think I've found something."

"_After a few minutes of searching, Sanyu found the room the smell was emanating from."_

Nagato was glad his mask concealed his face; Kazumichi-taicho would have berated him for gaping so openly.

It was a huge room filled with rows of shelves holding jars and books to the left. To the right, there were cots, dozens of cots. And they weren't empty.

The smell was the smell of human corpses rotting, though most of the corpses could hardly be identified as human anymore. They were twisted beyond recognition, horribly deformed. The faces of some were fixed in grotesque expressions of unimaginable agony.

And as Nagato neared the rows of cots, he realized to his horror that some of the children—for they were children, all of them, and young children too—, nearly a dozen of them, were still alive. The signs of life shone in them, the signs being anything from low rises and falls of the chest to shallow moans, to them opening their eyes—those who still _had_ eyes to open; in some of them, there was nothing but hollow depressions where eyes should have been—and staring at the ANBU operatives who stood above them, hollow-masked and staring.

Kazumichi shook his head. "You three. Kill the ones that still live." His voice was harsh and ragged.

"What?!" Nagato exclaimed, staring at his captain in unadulterated horror.

"Don't question me, rookie," Kazumichi growled. "Just do it. And if any of you ever let slip that any of these…_things_ were still alive when we found them, the heads doing the rolling will be yours."

_This is wrong,_ Nagato despaired. _This is all wrong_. An order was an order, and Sanyu grabbed him by the crook of his elbow and pulled him forward. Sickened, knees shaking, Nagato drew a kunai.

"_We found fifty nine…" Nagato hesitated, licking his dry lips "…corpses in the room. All were terribly deformed._

"_The facility had been abandoned, and recently, too. We found no sign of who had been responsible."_

Nagato stared around in the darkness, feeling slightly wild-eyed as his eyes burned and prickled. Saline water caught where the base of his mask and the tight, high black collar of his shirt met.

Then, he saw something. His Rinnegan was picking up on a very slight chakra signature near the back of the room.

"Hey!" Nagato shouted, tearing through the labyrinth of shelves and cabinets towards where he was seeing the chakra signature.

"Nagato, what are you doing?!" Kazumichi-taicho shouted after him. "Get back here!" Nagato ignored him.

He came to a table at the back of the room, far from the cots and where the rest of his squad were. Nagato got down on his knees and held his glow stick underneath.

In the eerie green glow, a pair of coal-black eyes stared back.

"_The strangest thing is though, we found one survivor. A young boy, who showed no sign at all of being deformed or mutated. I don't know how he survived when all the others died. His name is Tenzo…"_


	17. Blood

I know this one's really short, but it's plot-important, so remember this one as the chapters go on.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Nagato, home alone, heard a knock on the front door. He hopped up from the couch and the book he was reading to answer it.

When he opened the door, Nagato was met by the sight of the young, brown-haired, brown-eyed nurse he had met at the hospital last week while giving blood for the required bi-monthly blood test in the ANBU fidgeting outside the door, looking exceedingly nervous.

She smiled apologetically at Nagato as she said, "I'm sorry, Nagato-san, but you're going to have to come back to the hospital to give blood."

Nagato frowned. "But I just gave blood last week."

The nurse blushed in embarrassment. "I…I don't know what happened; your blood sample's vanished. We're not sure if it's been stolen or not, but we can't find it anywhere. Nothing else has been taken, so we can't be sure if it was an act of robbery or if we just misplaced it. I've contacted ANBU headquarters and explained the situation, and they have instructed me to have you give the blood sample again. I really am sorry, Nagato-san."

Nagato just stared at her, mouth slightly open as a strange feeling of apprehension came over him.

There was something wrong with the whole situation.


	18. Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Yahiko wiped a smudge of blood from his cheek as he and his remaining comrades surveyed the carnage before them.

Personally, Yahiko had had no idea that Kumo nin were willing to make incursions so far south as Hi no Kuni; they would have crossed the sea to do it, and in all reality, Yahiko was pretty sure they were no more than a few miles from the coast.

The dappled sunlight came through pale green leaves of the small (small by Konoha's standard) deciduous trees; it was high afternoon, and Yahiko could ignore the smell of blood in the air because the fresh breeze coming in from the ocean softened the smell.

Nara Shikaku, a companion three years Yahiko's senior, clapped his shoulder. "Kid," he muttered, "we have won," and promptly flopped down on the roots of an oak tree, drawing a cigarette and a lighter from his flak jacket.

Yahiko smiled teasingly at Shikaku. "Doesn't your girlfriend hate it when you smoke and wants you to stop?"

Shikaku smirked up at him. "Yoshino's…not here." Then, almost compulsively, he craned his head behind the tree trunk to make sure she wasn't in earshot.

Yahiko laughed. Yoshino was still in Konohagakure. "Man, you are so whipped." It was pretty clear who wore the pants in _that_ relationship.

The Nara had only one thing to say in his defense, or in defense of his girlfriend in that matter. "If I ever retire, her cooking will make me as big around as Choza."

It seemed like a decent explanation to Yahiko. "Always go for a woman who can cook?"

"You'd better believe it."

Yahiko smiled, and started rooting around the corpses. Eventually, he came to the body of a Kumo nin he had killed. The man's dark-skinned face was slackened in death, his brown eyes closed. In particular, Yahiko was looking at the man's sword.

His father had owned a nodachi; he had died swinging it at a Leaf nin's head. When Yahiko thought about it, the Kumo nin's nodachi looked a lot like the one his father had owned.

Yahiko picked it up. The weight felt good in his hand; he took a rag out of his flak jacket and wiped off the congealing blood.

"I think I'm gonna keep it," he explained to Shikaku, who had an eyebrow raised. Yahiko leaned down and picked up the sheath. "I've always liked swords."

* * *

In one of the pictures in Yahiko's profile in Narutopedia, it clearly shows him with a sword. Said picture is a screenshot from the manga, so it's canon.


	19. Gentle

I have 100 reviews! A milestone, reached.

Welcome to new reviewer **100****th****.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"_I don't know what you were thinking," Tsunade muttered as she and Jiraiya watched the three he had brought home from Ame train. "That kid is too gentle to be nin."_

"Still think he's too gentle?" Jiraiya inquired of Tsunade as they surveyed the scene.

The sun was starting to go down, and the rocky clearing was strewn with the broken corpses, in whole and in pieces. Blood saturated the ground like a fresh rain, dripping, dripping. A few of the corpses looked like they had been shattered, or repulsed with great force.

All three of them were conscious, though in varying degrees of sanity.

Yahiko was leaning against a tree, smoking a cigarette (A habit he picked up from a friend of his named Nara Shikaku, though unlike Shikaku, who was a chain smoker, Yahiko insisted he only did it to block out the smell of blood after a battle, and indeed he never smoked away from the battlefield). The bluish smoke rose from the cigarette, curling in myriad shapes that mostly looked like crackling bones.

Konan huddled high up in the tree Yahiko had his back bent against. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, and she stared down to a point on the ground that Jiraiya couldn't see.

Both seemed to be trying to put up some sort of invisible barrier between themselves and Nagato.

The young man was in a blood-splattered ANBU uniform, wiping a rag against the suddenly crimson blade of his ANBU-issue katana. Nagato said nothing, his long bangs covering both his eyes; his otter mask sat on the rock beside him. He barely even acknowledged the presence of Jiraiya and Tsunade on the battlefield.

Jiraiya decided he'd talk to Yahiko, who out of the three seemed the least affected by the carnage that had been wrought all around them.

"Okay. Just out of a matter of interest, which one of you did _this_?" Jiraiya asked in a tone that indicated he already knew the answer. He was nudging one of the corpses that had been mangled beyond recognition, shattered into a million fleshy pieces.

Yahiko looked at him for a long moment, light blue eyes shadowed and hooded. He spat out his cigarette, squishing it under his foot.

Then, he spoke, tipping his head towards his teammate. "Nagato did."

Tsunade sucked in her breath beside Jiraiya.

Later, Yahiko would tell Jiraiya about a strange technique Nagato had used in the course of the battle that had seemed to direct gravity to repel his enemies away from him, resulting in the wounds Jiraiya had seen on the shattered corpses.

Jiraiya turned to Tsunade, eyebrows raised ever so slightly. "Well, Tsunade? Do you still think he's too gentle?"


	20. Girls

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Yahiko cast a nervous look at the wall of the tent as the sounds of high-pitched giggling coming from the other tent. He turned his eyes back to the electric lantern he and the other boys had sitting in the tent that night. Fireflies flitted in through the mostly closed tent flap, whirling around the brilliant light.

"Okay, does _anyone _have any idea what those two are talking about?" Yahiko decided he'd just put the question to the crowd. Nagato, Minato and Arashi just shook their heads, looking equally bewildered.

"I don't even know why they got a separate tent," Arashi answered. His violet-gray eyes, identical in shade to his sister's, held an honest frown in them, as well as confusion and lethargy. He was clearly tired.

"Kushina and Konan-chan are girls," Nagato shrugged. "Do you really want them in the same tent as us?"

The smaller of the two red-haired teenagers shuddered. "Good point."

Minato smiled ruefully at Yahiko as he growled under his breath and settled back down onto his pallet. "They probably wonder the same thing when they hear us talk. It's no use wondering."

This earned an eye roll from Yahiko. "What, you're telling me you've never been curious about what the girls talk about when we can't hear them?" Another bout of giggling came from the tent next door, and Yahiko shuddered.

Minato laughed softly, tilting his head from side to side. "Well, Yahiko, what do _you _think they're talking about?"

The orange-haired teen shrugged impatiently. "I don't know. They're girls, and they're teenage girls, so…boys?"

Almost as if in answer to him, a third duet of giggling came from the tent next door.

Yahiko smirked. "Yeah. Definitely boys."

He either didn't notice or didn't bother to comment on how red Nagato's face got when he gave his answer.

Nagato settled down on the pallet, his face burning. Pulling the blanket over his head, he muttered, "Good night," and refused to say anything else that evening, even when Yahiko nudged him in the ribs.

* * *

Author's Note: Don't you just love Yahiko's line of logic?


	21. Reflection

Welcome to new reviewer **Lil' DeiDei.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Nagato couldn't help but feel troubled when the whispers came down. They were never meant to reach his ears, but at the same time, the ones who whispered knew he'd find out about it and were not ashamed of their words.

Nagato stopped for a moment during the course of the battle to look for his teammates. Yahiko was busy having it out with an enemy nin, nodachi swinging left and right, hacking away at tissue and skin. Konan hovered above the fray, wings sending little wind currents swirling in the air. She seemed so remote from it all, until one noticed the paper shuriken flying from her hands.

His ringed eyes settled on Konan for a moment before Nagato tore his eyes away and focused his attention on the Iwa nin snarling at him.

_We aren't anything like them, are we?_

It troubled him constantly, being compared to the Sannin.

There wasn't any real reason, Nagato admitted, to be troubled by it, apart from Orochimaru (In his opinion, that didn't need any more explaining). He respected Tsunade and Jiraiya was a well-loved figure in his life, and under normal circumstances, he wouldn't mind being compared to them and would even feel somewhat flattered by it.

But he wasn't.

There was something wrong about being compared to the Sannin; Nagato knew that, deep down in his bones. Being compared with the good traits was all fine and good, but in order to be held up against the good, it was required to be held up against the bad as well.

If Konan was the new Tsunade, would she embark on the same destructive behavior patterns? Nagato prayed not, and wasn't afraid to have it out with anyone who even implied that Konan would some day be an alcoholic or overly fond of the lottery. Konan wasn't like that.

If Yahiko was Jiraiya in the flesh, then would he display the same irresponsibility? Sure, Jiraiya had gotten better about making sure everything was status quo and beyond, but he still disappeared on certain nights, and Nagato knew exactly where he was going. Nagato didn't like to think that Yahiko would ever be that sort of person.

And again, it was fairly self-explanatory why Nagato did _not_ want to be compared in any way, shape or form with Orochimaru.

There was something else, and Nagato thought about it as he sent the Iwa nin running for his life.

Nagato wanted to be his own person. He wanted to make a name for himself, his own name, not shadowed by the looming reputation of another. Once someone stepped under the shadow of the Sannin, it would be a miracle if they ever managed to get out from under it and into the sunlight.

He could see similarities between them and the Sannin, and that disturbed Nagato more than anything. It was the way they worked together, complementing each other, as Yahiko tossed a nin towards Konan who shredded his skin with shuriken then let Nagato have him, who finished him off with a clean kunai strike to the throat. They were deadly together, and that, Nagato supposed, was a good part of why people seemed so fond of identifying the trio with the Sannin.

But as the order for the Leaf nin to fall back to their embattled base was given, Nagato knew the defining way in which he and his teammates were different from the Sannin.

Unlike the Sannin, Nagato, Konan and Yahiko knew when to pull out, and they knew when it was better not to fight.


	22. Timing

Welcome to new reviewer **Raven-Dragonlady84.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

There were days when Yahiko heard things he wished he hadn't. Even when he was sure he wasn't hearing all of it, and wasn't entirely sure what he was hearing.

The Leaf forces were trapped in their base, surrounded by the enemy, and Yahiko went looking for Nagato and Konan to get into position for the defense of the base.

Eventually, he heard talking behind a door, and cracked it open.

Yahiko immediately regretted opening the door, and knew he was going to have a large, suspicion-induced headache later.

"You chose _now_ to bring something like that up? Are you crazy?" Konan screamed at Nagato, who had removed his ANBU mask and showed no hint of quailing or backing down. He stared at her with a remarkably clear-eyed, determined expression on his face.

"Will you please just think about it, Konan?" he asked Konan with the sort of imperturbable calm that would have made a Hyuuga green at the eyes out of envy.

Konan, on the other hand, was not nearly so calm. If she were any less calm she probably would have been breathing fire. "What on earth gave you the idea that it was a good idea to bring this up now? Do you have any sense of timing at all?"

Nagato frowned slightly. "You know my sense of timing's always been a bit off, Konan."

"_Obviously._ Where did you even get this idea, anyway?"

Up until then, Nagato had been perfectly mild, but now, an edge of impatience entered his quiet tones, his back tensing. "Does it even matter? Look, I'm asking you now, and I'd like an answer."

Konan folded her arms across her chest, sighing deeply, her enraged glare settling into a frown. "Do you have any idea of what it is you're asking?"

"Of course I know. I'm not a child, Konan. Will you please just give me your answer?"

Konan snarled, though all of the fire had gone out of her tense, wary frame, as she walked out of the door Yahiko stood by, not even noticing him as she walked.

"Konan?" Nagato cried after her desperately. He ran after her down the hall, and they stopped a few yard past where Yahiko was standing.

She sighed, looking at her feet. "I'll…I'll tell you if we both live. Got it?" She didn't stick around to hear Nagato's answer, cloak hem swishing and plucking at her ankles as she started down the staircase.

Yahiko immediately wheeled around in the opposite direction, muttering to himself over and over again, "I don't wanna know, I _do not_ want to know."

The bad thing was though, he _did_ have a pretty good idea of what was going on.

* * *

Three guesses as to what he asked her.


	23. Answer

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Yahiko sighed and kicked an inert corpse out of his way as he walked over the misty, darkening battlefield. A dull, orange light cast a canopy of cauls over the sky.

They, the Leaf, had won, though just barely, and the result was that a good number of their forces had been decimated and the Iwa in sharp retreat. Even though the Rock had lost, the Leaf had actually lost more men than them.

And now, Yahiko was going to find his teammates. It was always his first priority if they had been in battle with him; he couldn't be content for very long, if he wasn't sure that Nagato and Konan were alright or at least alive after a battle.

As he moved through a small patch of trees, Yahiko heard voices, and picked up the pace to reach the clearing beyond the tangled mess of trees.

Apparently, he had been separated from what remained of the Leaf forces, and more survived than Yahiko had thought.

Emerging from the mist, Yahiko saw the ghosts of living soldiers, traveling through the field as he did, assisting the wounded and their tired, weary companions. Eventually, Yahiko was able to pick out Nagato and Konan in the lessening light.

Smiling buoyantly (everything was alright, by Yahiko's standards, if his two best friends were still standing after the fight was over), Yahiko started towards them, but then stopped dead in his tracks.

Nagato and Konan were talking in soft, lowered tones, clearly unaware of anything that was going on around them; Nagato had removed his otter mask, Konan's lips forming a constantly shifting twitch.

"Well?" Nagato asked. Tension thrummed in his voice, so thick and sharp that it was practically palpable to Yahiko, who had known him for so long.

Konan smiled slightly. "I've thought about it."

"And?"

What she did next surprised everyone who was watching, not least of all Nagato. Konan's smiled widened as she leaned up and kissed him hard.

Yahiko snorted at the look on Nagato's face as she pulled away, alternating between stark, ashen white and a darker shade of red than his hair. He stuttered compulsively, forcing out, "Wh-wh-what?"

Konan shook her head. "Shut up," she murmured, before kissing him again.

Yahiko's snort morphed into a full laugh, as he called to his friend, "Have the sense to enjoy it, Nagato!", before moving around to look for Shikaku. They were going to be having something a bit more interesting than usual to talk about that night.

* * *

Okay, some of you had some pretty…_interesting_ guesses as to what Nagato was asking Konan. Here are the three that stand out most in my mind.

At #3, we have one of wisdom-jewel's, "to bear his child". While what he was asking her, emm_, somewhat_ related to that, "bearing his child" would be jumping the gun just a little bit.

#2: kmz's first guess: "He asked her to help him bring about peace".

And at #1, Annacat101's "he asked her to abandon Konoha with him".

Okay, all, very inventive, and all very amusing. For those of you who guessed right (he was asking her something along the lines of asking her to go out with him, combined with Nagato confessing his feelings for her; that was unexpected, wasn't it?), congratulations.


	24. Duo

Welcome to new reviewer **XxGaaraXRukixX**.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

No one wanted to take them on when they were together; hardly any more liked to fight them when they were apart. Not that anyone among the enemy's comrades could blame them for their overwhelming desire to live to see the next sunrise.

Minato would mark out the prey. It was a strain on his senses to maintain surveillance of the marked enemy and fight at the same time, but he could handle it, and handle it he did. He would mark out which ones were his before the battle even started, and could trust Yahiko to take care of the rest.

Minato needed no one to cover him in battle. It was simple enough, all too easy, to pick out the ones branded with the seal of the Hiriashin, his mark of death, and strike the blows so hard that their bodies went flying before the blink of an eye passed and long after he was gone from that spot, on to the next victim, on to the next enemy to be cut down like goats before a garish sacrificial altar.

Yahiko didn't need his back to be watched either. While Minato took care of his share, Yahiko handled the ones he didn't get, lightning-fast arms of water whipping about everywhere. Blood, skin and human filth polluted the water in the area before Yahiko was through, but he didn't care; there were always ways to purify the water later.

No one of the enemy, be it Iwa, Kumo, or, less commonly, Suna, survived a battle Minato and Yahiko participated in unless they ran away. And as a rule, Iwa, Kumo and Suna nin were _not_ particularly inclined towards running away.

When all was said and done, the two young men stood tall and proud, unvanquished, unconquered, and unbeatable.

No one wanted to take Minato and Yahiko on when they were together. No one.


	25. Angel

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Shiro tottered on his feet, as did the majority of the line of refugees. Days without food and the blood seeping from the wound he had sustained when their outer rim village was attacked took their toll, as his ragged, filthy clothes clung to his body and he listened to the sounds of human misery in every direction around him.

In the back of his mind, Shiro wondered where his brother was, and prayed he was somewhere in that nearly quarter of a mile long line. His brother had always had a habit of getting into trouble; Shiro didn't want to think that that propensity of his extended to being killed by Iwa nin.

"Are you alright?" Shiro started when a small hand touched his shoulder and a soft voice sounded in his ear. He looked round. "You were starting to lag behind."

A young woman, no older than eighteen, dressed in a sweeping blue cloak, smiled a soft, subdued smile at him as she walked, decided and firm in her pace. She had pale skin and clear blue eyes with hair about the same shade. She twirled a strangely insubstantial kunai in her hands.

Shiro smiled slightly and nodded. "I'm fine. Just a little tired, is all."

"Well, we'll be to the outpost in a couple of hours. Just try to hold out until then."

"I'll try."

Of course, the quiet and the new feeling of peace settling over Shiro were spoiled and rent to shreds before he could even grow accustomed to it and drink it in. Iwa shinobi had a habit of doing that.

The refugee line scattered everywhere, but Shiro had not survived the attack on his village for nothing; he was going to stand his ground, uncaring of what it could potentially cost him.

Well, that didn't go so well.

Shiro found himself lying on his back in the grass that was beginning to turn brown as the ritual of summer moved closer to autumn, thanking God that the shuriken had only grazed him and had neither eviscerated him nor stuck in his stomach. He would most likely live out the day if his luck held out and no Iwa nin decided to finish him off.

A shadow from high above fell over Shiro, with the wings and slight outline of a giant bird. Shiro wondered if he had stepped into a world of clichés when he realized what he was actually seeing.

Just before he lost consciousness, Shiro smiled, and whispered, "I didn't know the Konoha military force employed angels. 'Specially not angels with paper wings," to the blue eyes that stared down at him.


	26. Bitter

Welcome to new reviewer **MiekoYagyu**.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

_He had held the memories like a ribbon in his hand, never loosening his grip or giving any sign that he would do anything but hold them close to him._

_In his other hand was the pain of losing so much, and even when the spikes bit into his skin, he clenched it tightly, even more tightly after it made him bleed and the blood spilled out from between his fingers, dripping to the floor…_

Yahiko gripped the Leaf hitai-ate in his hands, stared at it, and wondered.

There was no way he could deny that he had been very bitter, for very long. The Leaf had come to his home, his Amegakure, and had slaughtered without distinction, cutting down villagers without stopping to notice if they were nin or not, if they were armed or not or if they were even capable of fighting back. When it came down to it, in battle the Leaf were the same as any major village in battle: they fought like animals, lived like animals, and died like animals.

The Sannin had been no exception. Yahiko had been an eyewitness to the fact that neither Orochimaru, Tsunade or even Jiraiya cared who they drew into their battles, who they killed if they missed their intended targets.

They had been trying to kill Amegakure's leader Hanzo, and had failed. Yahiko had grinned when it had been made clear that the Sannin had been beaten, and had been nothing short of aghast when Hanzo let them go.

They were the enemy. They were responsible for the deaths of countless Amegakure villagers. Didn't they deserve to die?

The Leaf were the enemy. Every time Yahiko had attempted to forget and move on, he would close his eyes and his parents' faces were as clear as day.

_They stared up at him, faces waxen and blank in death, their eyes glazed over as they made him swear to never forget what had been done to them, and who had been responsible._

Konohagakure was the enemy. It was a monster spun out of control, drunk on its own power, uncaring of the ants it crushed in its quest to dominate the continent.

Yahiko felt he had every right to hate them.

When Yahiko met Jiraiya, the lines became a bit more blurred.

Yahiko had been unaware that Konoha could produce soldiers who were not in every sense of the word morally corrupt. Out of all of them, he had expected the same thing: moral bankruptcy. _Why did Jiraiya have to be so different? _Yahiko wondered in frustration. _He muddled everything up._

And Jiraiya hadn't been the only one. Yahiko outright despised Orochimaru and held only a scant amount of respect for the irreverent, brash Tsunade, who cared not one wit for the dead, but there were those he found he could respect.

The Sandaime Hokage was a genuine lover of peace, though he didn't seem very effective in maintaining it. Minato and Arashi were two of Yahiko's closest friends, and Kushina was a good comrade as well. Even Nara Shikaku, Yahiko's newfound brother in arms, meant something to him beyond a warm body who watched his back.

_For all the time I was here, I fought the Leaf's battles, talked with the Leaf's soldiers, and made friends amongst their ranks. Before I knew it, my hatred for the Konoha military had been all but extinguished, almost before it had ever flamed._

_But I still hated this headband I had to wear. I wouldn't admit it to anyone, not even myself, but I did. It reminded me of bloodshed and suffering, of my parents, of everything I had lost._

_Where's that hate now?_

In the gloomy, overcast morning, Yahiko sighed and stood up. Without a word, he threaded the hitai-ate back over his brow.

Nothing was as clear-cut as he had thought it was.


	27. Low

Hi guys! Whew, it's been a very long time, hasn't it? Anyway, I figure I owe you all an explanation for ditching you for nearly a year. With all the "developments" taking place in the manga I got a bit discouraged. Mainly, I was thinking "Kushina was the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki? _Really_?" and what a frankly ridiculous plot twist _that_ was. At any rate, I got _really_ discouraged, thinking "Oh man, my take on what happened to Konoha during the Kyuubi's attack is _so_ AU now".

Then, last night, it hit me. It doesn't _have_ to be canonical, not so long as I slap the disclaimer on it. So here's how it goes. I've changed a few things in the outline to allow for Kushina to be a jinchuuriki because there's no getting around that and I've more or less made my peace with the revelation. My take on the extent of the damage inflicted to Konoha by the Kyuubi will stay the same. And guys? I understand if you want to do me bodily harm for keeping you all in suspense for so long. But remember: If you kill me, I can't upload any more chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Jiraiya always said that there were only two types of funeral: the ones where it was pouring down rain and the ones where it was bright and sunny. Today, however, was proving him wrong, neither rainy nor sunny but simply deeply overcast and windy.

Konan stood behind where Tsunade was kneeling, her eyes narrowed.

She hadn't even known that Tsunade had a boyfriend, though in retrospect she could remember the sight of Tsunade occasionally going around the village with a slim man with light blue hair.

Well, she didn't have one anymore, and by all accounts…

No. Konan didn't need accounts. She had her eyes, and that was enough.

It was… It was a little frightening, to see such a strong woman brought so low. To see Senju Tsunade, she who had brought down mountains, on her knees in front of a grave and unable to get up. It was a little frightening to see her so thoroughly cracked and broken.

Nara Shikaku, Akimichi Choza and Yamanaka Inoichi had already come and gone. As Konan understood it, they had been genin under Katou Dan's guidance; he had been their sensei.

_They were his genin, back when they still wore the title. They were his, and they have not broken down, weeping. Why do you?_

Deep down, Konan knew that she would react the same way if she was to lose Nagato or Yahiko.

Thunder boomed overhead; _Looks like it's going to be a rainy funeral after all_. Konan stepped forward and gently shook Tsunade's shoulder. "Tsunade-san? It's going to rain."

Tsunade didn't answer, and the rain chased Konan all the way back home as she ran.

When she got to the safety of the porch, she saw that Tsunade hadn't followed her.

Konan didn't have to guess where she was.


	28. Lost

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

It wasn't hard to find her. Nagato and Yahiko had agreed to cover for her while she was gone. Nagato had shaken his head and looked dubious and Yahiko outright told her that she wasn't going to be able to accomplish anything, but neither of them tried to stop her. They knew better, and that sense of solidarity the three shared, even after years of being in Konoha, ensured that they would support her.

After four months, Konan had finally thought Tsunade was going to be somewhat alright. After four months of not making good on her threats to leave, Konan finally thought Tsunade was going to try and pick up on the life she left off when Dan died.

The fact that Tsunade quit work a month ago and didn't try to get another job should have told Konan something different than what she assumed. She knew that now.

The little town was barely five miles from Konoha. Konan pulled her cloak hood further up her head as the freezing rain became even driving than before, and put muddy feet inside the bar. The barmaid sighed in exasperation as she watched mud drip onto the floor, but given how much of it there already was, she didn't try to stop Konan from entering.

"Sorry," Konan whispered with a half-hearted smile, and the barmaid only waved at her wearily and went to get her mop, probably not for the first time that night.

It wasn't hard to find the head of sleek blonde hair, either. Tsunade was sitting at the bar near the back of the seedy little pub, sipping her sake as usual with her shoulders hunched over. She looked as though she was in pain and, Konan realized, she probably was.

_Good grief… To be brought to this…_

The lamps, golden light suffusing the pub, swung overhead as Konan approached her. "Tsunade-san?" she asked quietly.

Tsunade didn't look up at first, still sipping her sake with a sort of serenity Konan didn't think she had ever seen in her before. Konan's pale eyes bore into the side of her head for maybe half a minute before Konan summoned words again.

"Tsunade-san?" She laid a hand on Tsunade's arm, and Tsunade finally looked at her, her eyes clearer than Konan had seen them in four months.

"Konan." That voice didn't have the raw emotion in it that it normally did, and Konan found herself sitting down in the seat beside her. When the bartender asked what she wanted she just waved him off, but Tsunade asked for another sake.

_This is how you spend your time, isn't it, Tsunade?_

"So…" Konan wasn't entirely sure what to say anymore "…so…"

Tsunade waved a hand impatiently. "If you're going to say something, say it Konan."

Alright then.

"You left," Konan intoned flatly.

"Yes," Tsunade remarked casually, her eyebrows rising as if in surprise. "I did."

She seemed so much… lighter than she ever had been in Konoha. Far lighter since she had been since Dan's death. The weight was gone from her shoulders.

Konan had come out there with the intention of asking Tsunade to come back. But seeing her like this, she couldn't find her words anymore.

So she didn't ask. She just left, and was back to Konoha by morning.

_Nagato and Yahiko were waiting. They saw her return, saw her come back alone, and neither of them looked surprised._

"_She wouldn't agree?" Yahiko asked, reaching forward to take Konan's pack._

_Konan couldn't tell them the truth. She just nodded, and shrugged heavily. "No, she wouldn't."_

_A hand tapped her shoulder and Nagato's expression was somewhere between sympathy and "I-told-you-so." If she didn't love him like she did Konan probably would have hit him. "Did you expect her to?" he asked quietly._

"_No."_


	29. Impermanent

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"So…" Konan's blue eyes were sharp as they fell on her sensei's face. "Who exactly is the child?" She was of course referring to the tiny little girl currently asleep on the couch of the apartment Jiraiya shared with all his students. Also, Konan had by now become convinced that Jiraiya was incapable of not taking in strays, since there could be only one explanation why the grand total of dependents living in his apartment had just risen to eight.

Jiraiya grimaced and sat down at the kitchen table, the primary meeting place for anyone happening to live in this apartment. "Her name's Katou Shizune."

Konan's eyebrows disappeared into her bangs. "'Katou'. Any relation to Tsunade-san's dead boyfriend?"

The toad sennin groaned. "Uh-huh. She was his niece. Only living relative too, as it turns out." Now it was Konan's turn to grimace. "Dan was taking care of her up until he died. After that Tsunade was taking care of her, if you want to call it that. Now that Tsunade's gone…"

Again, Konan raised an eyebrow. "Now that Tsunade-san's gone…"

Jiraiya shook his head. "She's a sweet little girl. The orphanage system would eat her alive and we'd never see her again."

Smiling gently, Konan probed his hand with her fingertips. "Just can't resist the chance to take in a stray, can you Sensei?"

He snorted. "'Course not. Why else are you, Nagato and Yahiko here?"

"Point."

.

Shizune was a resident of Chateau Jiraiya for a grand total of two months. In those two months, Konan found herself watching the child's progress.

She was shy, but bright in her manner. She tended to stick closer to Kakashi, who was closer to her age, and smiled a little foolishly whenever Minato was in the room. Kakashi seemed a little weirded out by the fact that suddenly someone wanted to spend an extended amount of time with him, but all agreed that the experience was good for him.

Shizune seemed to adjust well.

Konan couldn't help but notice, though, that the four-year-old girl tended to stare out windows when she thought no one was looking and pensively watch the walkers on the street go by. She was pining, and it was no question as to whom Shizune was pining for.

Jiraiya noticed to, because at the end of two months he packed a bag for him and the girl, marched out of the house with Shizune in tow and declared that he was going to find Tsunade.

Konan watched them leave from the porch, arms folded over her chest.

She knew it couldn't last.


	30. Nest

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Jiraiya found himself checking bedrooms for strife from time to time only to find that they were empty and stripped bare, and he cursed himself on the fact that he was actually starting to feel nostalgic. It was only Kakashi here now and the boy was so quiet and self-sufficient (he could already cook and everything) that he might as well have not been there at all. God knew Kakashi couldn't provide a constant stream of conversation to chase away the silence like the others could.

It had all happened so fast. Jiraiya didn't know why but suddenly his apartment had become an undesirable place to be, because the six of them had got it in their heads to leave within a week of each other.

Minato went first, with a bright smile and promises to visit regularly and share a meal. Jiraiya just watched from the porch and waved numbly, still not entirely capable of fathoming just what was going on.

Nagato, Yahiko and Konan went next, packed closely together like they were still wont to do. Jiraiya wasn't surprised that they had chosen to rent an apartment together; they did _everything_ together if they could help it and living arrangements, he supposed, was no exception. Yahiko called out "See you tomorrow!" and Konan waved and forced Nagato to stick his hand up in the air, much to Yahiko's (and Jiraiya's) amusement. Nagato just ducked his head, blushing furiously.

The last to go were the Uzumaki twins, also together, which was only natural considering that they _were_ brother and sister and got along quite well. They both waved furiously as they disappeared into the street.

Everybody came back for their things the next day, and stripped Jiraiya's apartment bare in the process. Well, they stripped the bedrooms bare, anyway; it wasn't like Kakashi kept knick-knacks around or anything.

Now, Jiraiya was left with a nest that had emptied out pretty quick. The only chick left was the quiet one that always trained and never made eye contact, and when, one morning when they were both in the kitchen and Kakashi was pulling out a milk carton from the refrigerator, Jiraiya, chin propped on his hand, took a look at the boy and said, "Buddy, I get the feeling that we've been ditched."

Kakashi stiffened a little. He didn't usually put on his face mask until he was done with breakfast, but he hardly, Jiraiya thought, needed one, given how impassive his usual expression was.

He was silent for a minute, as he ate his kippers and drank his milk.

Then, he nodded.


	31. Piercings

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"Shikaku sent a letter ahead warning us," Konan remarked, frowning as she reached up and brushed Yahiko's slightly overgrown hair—he needed a haircut; his bangs were starting to hang over his eyes—from his ears. "But to be honest, I thought he was just exaggerating."

Having just emerged from the briefing office into the street behind Yahiko, Shikaku snorted. "Woman, when have you known me to exaggerate?"

"Point."

Yahiko seemed distinctly affronted by all this.

Nagato had his arms crossed around his chest and a speculative frown on his face. "Yahiko?" he asked quietly. "What was it that made you decide to go through with this?"

"Don't look at me," Shikaku defended himself hastily, holding his arms up. "I took my eyes off him for fifteen minutes and he cam back to me looking like _that_." The Nara shuddered as he cast a cagey look in the direction of Yahiko's ears. "I can't account for Yahiko _or_ his deluded ideas concerning fashion."

"Dude, _you_ wear earrings," Yahiko muttered, scowling blackly; the Nara was no longer on his list of favorite people.

"Not like that I don't."

Minato spoke up for the first time, eyes sparkling mischievously. "They're going to be calling you 'Yahiko of the multiple piercings' from here on out, you know that, right?"

Yahiko's cheeks were by now a brilliant shade of scarlet. "Oh, screw you," he snarled. "And screw you too, you double-crossing bastard," he shot in Shikaku's direction. Personally, he had thought getting three metal studs pierced into each ear was a good idea, and he _still_ thought it was a good idea, regardless of what his unsupportive friends tried to make him believe. "And don't any of you even try to tell me three piercings is something a woman would get."

Konan sniffed. "Trust us, we won't. Multiple piercings in each ear doesn't look any better on a woman than it does on a man."

Suddenly, all of Yahiko's irritation evaporated as he came up with a perfectly _evil_ idea. "Say, Konan? If you don't like the idea of getting your ears pierced, why don't you get your lower lip pierced instead. A labret piercing would look good on—"

"Absolutely not!" Konan gasped, scandalized. Nagato held up a hand to hide his smile at the thought and Konan glared at him.

"Alright, than if Konan won't get a labret piercing, Minato, why don't you…"

Thus started the discussion on the merits of piercings and who would look good with a certain piercing. The discussion dragged on late into the night and eventually ended up involving a great deal of sake, even more heated shouting and threats of humiliation, slander and public disgrace. The next morning _no one_ really remembered all that much about it and it was agreed that it would never be brought up again.

Yahiko grinned as he realized that he had completely managed to deflect questions as to _why_ he had chosen to get three metal studs put in each ear.

Now that he thought about it, it probably was pretty foolish to get his ears pierced in a tiny, unsanitary salon just because he thought the tattoo artist looked cool with all those piercings.

But he wasn't going to tell any of them that.


	32. Team

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"Don't scare the kids," Konan muttered as they approached Minato, who stood waiting by the ramen bar with Kakashi and his new genin. This was meant for both Nagato and Yahiko and, as one, they sent innocent looks at her that provoked a roll of the eyes from her. Yahiko would do it on purpose and even if Nagato did it by accident, they were both going to end up trying their very best to traumatize the two genin of Minato's today.

Kakashi nodded briefly to the three of them and disappeared behind the screen into the ramen bar; just as charming as ever, Konan couldn't help but note. About as sociable as a rock and just as talkative.

Konan gave brief pleasantries to Rin and to Uchiha Obito, the latter of whom blushed deeply to have the grown kunoichi paying even a small amount of attention to him, and stepped aside to talk to Minato.

Yahiko seemed to gravitate towards Obito, and soon they were talking about the value of enjoying life and living it to the fullest. They got to talking about other things as well.

"Alright, Yahiko-san, I have only one question for you, and one for you too Minato-sensei. Yahiko-san, where did you get all those piercings, and Minato-sensei, can I _please, please, please(!)_ get some too?"

Yahiko broke down laughing as Minato's eyebrow twitched. "No piercings," he said, very quietly, to his Uchiha genin. "Not while you're _my_ genin. Your father would kill me for letting you do that, besides." Minato adopted a mock pleading face. "You don't _really_ want to get me killed, do you Obito?" he asked plaintively.

Obito's black eyes widened. "No, sensei," he answered seriously, and Yahiko just laughed harder.

"What?"

Meanwhile, Nagato and Rin were sitting off to the side, watching the theatrics and seeming content to stay silent.

Konan turned her attention to Minato. "So, Minato… How are things with them? She pointed to Obito, Rin, and Kakashi who was still inside the ramen bar, pointedly ignoring all of them.

Minato shrugged. "About normal for a new team, I'd say. Kakashi annoys the ever-loving heck out of Obito and he's constantly responding. Rin tries her best not to let things come to blows, but she can only do so much."

She frowned. "You're right, it does sound about normal for a team of children. But how does that sort of strife translate over into cooperation during training and on the battlefield?"

At that, Minato looked distinctly uncomfortable. "They're cohesive."

Kakashi walked out of the bar and made some muttered, offhand insult concerning Obito's newfound enthusiasm for piercings. Obito promptly sprang to his feet to (loudly) defend himself, and tripped over a crate as he was following Kakashi.

Konan's expression was decidedly unimpressed. "Cohesive, sure."


	33. Funeral

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Rin tried in vain to apply healing chakra to the mangled corpse while Obito, still on a tree branch not far behind the others wretched miserably over the side of the branch. Kakashi hung close to Minato, silent and calm, while Minato stared, hollow-eyed, at the body. Nagato watched from behind his otter mask, feeling a little sick himself, and wondered what would be done.

Uzumaki Arashi's funeral would be a miserable affair.

It was supposed to be an easy mission. A _breather_ mission, in terms of what missions usually were during wartime.

Go to Kawa no Kuni and capture an odd, masked man who had been running around the place, causing chaos. Apparently, a squad from the Sand had been given the same mission and, in an unprecedented move, an alliance was formed for the purpose of catching the man. After that, the target would "meet with an unfortunate accident" so no strife would foment between the two squads. The leader of the Sand group was a female jonin about Nagato's age with blonde hair (she looked so familiar but Nagato just couldn't pinpoint where; Minato seemed to have met her somewhere because he was slightly more courteous than he normally was to enemies) conversed with the puppet master in the group for a minute before they agreed.

It didn't take for the squad of six from the Leaf and the squad of five from the Sand to find the man they were looking for among the lesser trees of Kawa no Kuni.

And it didn't take them long to realize that, for all of their skills, they were sorely outmatched by this strange man.

Arashi and one of the Sand's patrol (a young chunin, as far as Nagato could tell), got it in their heads to charge the strange man as one, cooperating on this venture.

"_Arashi, no!" Minato shouted desperately._

_The Sand kunoichi, formerly crouched, sprang to her feet. "Damn it, get back here!"_

Too late.

Great, swirling gashes appeared on their bodies after the target performed a jutsu Nagato didn't recognize. Arashi and the Sand chunin were dead before they fell back on the branches.

_Dead… Just like that._

With that, the stranger was gone, and the squads were left to care for their dead.

Grimly, the Sand kunoichi nodded, and didn't look as the puppet master sealed the Sand chunin's corpse into a scroll. He tapped her shoulder, and the remaining members of the Sand squad left without another word or any further acknowledgement of the Leaf nin nearby.

Now, Nagato was seriously wondering if he shouldn't lift his mask for a few minutes. The air was stifling and he felt as though he would be ill.

"Good God," he heard Minato choke out. "Arashi…"

Nagato frowned. To be honest, he hadn't seen much of the younger Uzumaki twin for months. He'd just… faded into the background of Nagato's life and didn't come out until his death.

It felt awful.

"Minato?" Nagato's voice was barely audible as usual, but there was something especially hushed about this. "How are we going to tell Kushina?"

Blue eyes that had been closed snapped wide open. "Oh God," Minato muttered. "I hadn't thought of that."

_Nagato was right. Arashi's funeral was miserable. Kushina was dry-eyed and fiercely silent, all of her softness gone from her overnight, Minato couldn't comfort her—he could barely comfort himself—and no one could think to say a thing._

_That was Nagato's very definition of misery._


	34. Crazy

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Nagato knew that if he told Jiraiya about the conversation he and Kushina were having right now the old man would probably be getting the most insufferable look on his face. Frowning a little Nagato decided he wouldn't be telling Jiraiya about this any time soon; he had enough of a headache as it was.

And a good three years telling him that Kushina wouldn't make it for a week in the ANBU.

_Funny, that sounds really familiar too._

But he would try to be reasonable, and at least not shout her down at every opportunity like Jiraiya had tried to do with him.

"So, Kushina…" Nagato sucked in a deep breath "…would you mind telling me again, why you want to join ANBU?"

Kushina snorted; no smiles from her, no ready and willing smiles since her brother had died. And all her good humor was gone; in its place was a short, spitfire temper. "I imagine not, considering how loud you shouted "WHAT!" when I announced my intentions."

They were in the apartment Nagato, Konan and Yahiko shared. Konan was away on a mission and when Kushina told Nagato of her plans and Nagato had shouted "WHAT!" Yahiko had thought it was prudent to take his onigiri back to his room.

The younger redhead merely shrugged. "I was given an offer, and given my special ability with using chakra to restrain my enemies—you do remember that particular ability of mine, don't you Nagato?" Kushina asked too-sweetly.

Nagato rubbed his forehead. "How could I forget?" he murmured, recalling vividly the time Kushina had, during training, moulded her chakra to tie down Nagato, Minato and Arashi. Nagato had managed to break free soon enough thanks to judicious use of the Rinnegan (Nagato didn't like to rely on its power but he liked being tied to the ground even less), but the other two hadn't been so lucky.

Arashi… All this came back to Arashi. He died and everything was different as a result. He died and Kushina was completely different.

"Kushina…" Nagato reached over the counter—they were leaning against the kitchen counter—and squeezed her hand; Kushina jerked her hand away abruptly. "Why do you _really_ to join ANBU?"

Her violet-gray eyes shadowed over. "For the same reason as you. I have the power to make a difference, and I _want_ to make a difference."

_And you're not so averse to killing as I am_. For all that Kushina seeks peace she isn't afraid to kill to achieve that peace.

Nagato rubbed his forehead again. He had no power to influence her decisions. "It's not all fun and games, you know. In fact there isn't any fun and games to the ANBU at all. It's just blood, guts and doing the dirty work no one else is willing to."

"But you're still in there."

"Yes. Because I still believe in peace. And sometimes you have to do things you rather wouldn't for peace."

-0-

_Nagato found Jiraiya later and sat down beside him on top of some roof somewhere and took care to take Jiraiya's binoculars from him. "I really don't want any of the kunoichi to try and kill you again, sensei." He frowned as he looked at the binoculars; they'd been trained on the women's roofless bathhouse. "And if Konan's back and you were looking at her with these I should tell you that I'll be obliged to hurt you."_

_Jiraiya jerked his binoculars from Nagato, cuffing the back of his head gently. "Konan's a student. She ain't fair game."_

"_Well I'm glad you show _that_ much consideration when it comes to voyeurism, at least."_

_The Toad sennin rolled his eyes. "So what's up with you that makes me track me down to the places you swore you'd never go."_

"_Kushina's joined the ANBU."_

_Surprisingly, Jiraiya didn't freak out the way he did with Nagato. "Kushina isn't a genin anymore; she's not under my direct control anymore."_

"_Is that why you freaked out when I joined, because I was still living under your roof."_

_Jiraiya let out a barking laugh. "No." He clapped Nagato's shoulder. "I objected because you weren't the sort that I thought would be able to stand the pressure ANBU puts on you. You've proved me wrong."_

_Nagato smiled. He couldn't believe how long he'd waited to hear him say that._

"_And I don't have the same doubts with Kushina."_

_The smile melted off of Nagato's face. "Well, I'm glad _you_ don't. But still… It's troubling. She's crazy about these things, you know that. She doesn't think them through."_

"_She'll be alright," Jiraiya muttered, putting his binoculars up to his eyes again._


	35. Assignment

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"Good, you're all here."

Nagato, standing to the far left of the six ANBU agents, eyed Sarutobi and couldn't deny that he felt just a little nervous about this whole thing. He was glad that his mask covered his face; no longer was he entirely comfortable letting others see his emotions, not unless they were those he trusted above all others.

And even though Hokage-sama was, well, _Hokage-sama_, Nagato would be lying if he said he counted Sarutobi Hiruzen among the people he trusted most in his life.

"I trust all of you are wondering what you are doing here, in full-uniform, at this time of night."

They were indeed. Well, Nagato was at least, and he was sure the others were as well. Even if they were ANBU, ANBU weren't particularly accustomed to being summoned to the Hokage's office at, let's count, two thirty-five in the morning. Konan had _not _been happy when someone started to knock on the window of the room and Nagato shared.

Sarutobi's eyes were dark and heavy and Nagato could tell he had thought long and hard about this mission, and that in the end he didn't like the thought that he was having to assign it. That, Nagato knew, was never a good sign.

"The six of you are being given a new assignment, and given the seriousness of it I didn't feel a summons during regular hours was advisable.

"I wish for the six of you to look into the activities of one Orochimaru, Konohagakure jonin, and to track his movements without being caught."

One could have heard a pin drop and Sarutobi had achieved something no one before him ever had: he had successfully stunned a half-dozen ANBU at once with nothing but words.

Behind his mask, Nagato was gaping. _Is he… Is he serious?_ Come to think of it, Nagato had heard rumors, but there were _always_ rumors floating around Orochimaru. He was the sort of man that just generated rumor by breathing. He didn't need to do anything more than that.

"Hokage-sama…" The white-cloaked ANBU captain at the center of the group, spoke up, his voice trailing off.

"Yes, Kazumichi-taicho?" Sarutobi asked wearily.

Nagato's squad captain straightened. "What do you want us to look for, Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi rubbed his forehead as if to ward off a migraine. "Anything that strikes you as suspicious. And by "suspicious", I don't mean something of the caliber of forgetting to pay his tip or distilling sake out of his basement."

_Oh boy. I'm think I'm going to regret joining ANBU before this mission is over_.

"Needless to say, you will all still be assigned normal missions during the duration of this one, so as not to draw suspicion to yourselves. However, during the space of time between said missions, you are to devote all your attention to Orochimaru. This is a long-term mission, and a top-secret one; you are not permitted to discuss it with anyone not standing in my office at this moment." Sarutobi shot a sharp look at the cat-masked ANBU to Nagato's immediate right, who had taken a step forward. "And no, you're not allowed to object."

As Nagato left the Hokage's office to go back home, his stomach started to churn.

One of those infamous "bad feelings" was starting to rear its ugly head.


	36. Within

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

It was nearing morning and even though all was quiet now, Nagato still expected to hear the clash of kunai in all its deadly, musical glory. He still expected to hear the screams of pain before the enemy nin (_and many of their own men as well_) died.

Most of all, what Nagato was still expecting was to see Kushina cloaked in noxious chakra, inhuman growls emitting from her lips as her skin turned black and all vestige of humanity disappeared from sight, to be replaced by a snarling fox with four tails.

_That_ had been unexpected.

"Does she show any sign of waking?" Nagato called to Minato, and the blond shook his head.

"No, she doesn't." Minato went back to wiping his kunai clean, still keeping a watchful eye on the unconscious Kushina. They were back just in the forest, Kushina, unresponsive (the only way they could tell she was still alive was the faint rise and fall of her chest), put against a tree and Minato sitting near her. She was covered in thick, charred chakra burns, and all of their attempts at healing her had met with limited success (Minato had only minimal knowledge of healing ninjutsu, and Nagato wasn't much better off).

Nagato was sitting just outside the tree line, perched on a rock with his katana out and ready in case more foes showed up (At this rate he felt almost—_almost_—ready to use the Rinnegan, despite how much he hated having to rely on its power). His eyes fell on the bodies and the blood-stained masks all around.

Eagle mask. Giichi. He'd known this one. A young man, ambitious. He had a girl back home; they would be married within the month, or at least they would have been.

Cat mask. Akiyo. A veteran of the Second War. Her nerves were shot straight to Hell and she was paranoid to that point too. She'd wanted children but couldn't have them because of an injury she'd sustained in her youth.

Snake mask. Kazuho. Little more than a child; fifteen years old. He thought he was invincible. Well, that delusion had certainly been lifted now.

And it hadn't been Rock nin who'd killed them.

What would Kushina say when she woke up?

Nagato knew, immediately from seeing the form she took when that noxious chakra overtook her, what was going on.

There had, after all, been rumors that the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki was a shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato. Nagato hadn't known what to make of those rumors before now.

In his mind, Nagato knew what the accompanying feeling for such a revelation were "supposed" to be. He guessed he was "supposed" to be terrified, repulsed, disgusted. Really, he wasn't. Really, Nagato just felt sorry, and a little sick, that Kushina had had such a burden forced upon her. Something within that always threatened to break loose.

_How did she get to be a jinchuuriki?_

"Hey, Nagato…" Nagato turned his eyes to Minato, who was leaning close over Kushina. "I think she's coming around."

The red-haired young man bit back a sigh as he moved forward, holding back a little further from Kushina than Minato—_Give her some space._

There was going to be talking, and explanations, and Nagato got the feeling that whatever it was Minato would ask (because he was going to go right back to watching out for enemies) and Kushina would say, it wasn't going to be pleasant.


	37. Word

I got the definitions used for "monster" from dictionary(dot)com. They're being paraphrased here since I don't write Nagato as having an eidetic memory. For the record, I don't own that (dictionary(dot)com) any more than I do Naruto.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

There was one word Nagato hated above all others and that word was "monster".

Having been an avid reader of the dictionary when there was nothing else to do since coming to Konoha, Nagato could remember some of the definitions. _1: a creature so ugly as to inspire fear. 2: any being deviating from the normal behavior for its species. 3: a person who was so wicked as to inspire horror or hatred. 4: anything unnatural._

There were many more definitions for monster, and Nagato hated all of them. He hated the word, the meanings, and the people who tried to fix that word to anyone—any_thing's_—back. He'd hated it since the day long past that he had killed a Konoha nin and the other one took one look at his eyes and screamed "_Monster_!" before he, too, met the great gaping maw of the abyss.

And maybe, just maybe his hatred of that word had gone up a little since this morning, when Kushina woke up and described herself bitterly as a "monster". Needless to say, neither Nagato nor Minato had been particularly amused by the self-chosen appellation.

_I had no idea she was carrying this amount of bitterness within her. She and Tsunade-san could have a field day for bitterness._

But that was how just about anyone would see her, if they ever discovered she was a jinchuuriki.

_So she houses a demon and that automatically makes her just as deserving of fear? _Nagato frowned. _Well, in all fairness, I think last night _proved_ Kushina's a danger to those around her when she loses control. _There were more than half a dozen Konoha ANBU corpses left behind that could account for the "danger Kushina posed to others". _But the meaning of jinchuuriki is "power of a human sacrifice". Her very life has been given up to house the Kyuubi, and a sacrifice such as that is something that should merit _honor_ and _respect_, not fear or hatred._

_Konoha's not known for being very grateful to its protectors._

And therein laid the only mercy to this whole fiasco. Hardly anyone in Konoha knew Kushina was a jinchuuriki—Nagato and Minato had only found out this morning. And given that they were the only survivors of last night's battle, they could simply say that the Rock nin had been responsible for all the Leaf casualties. They were still working out how to explain away Kushina's chakra burns, but the three of them agreed that saying that Kushina had attempted a jutsu and it backfired might be good enough of an explanation.

It wasn't honest, but where the happiness and security of his few friends was concerned, Nagato was more than happy to bend honesty. He was a shinobi, after all.

"How is she?" Minato called from the branch in front of him.

They were traveling back to Konoha now; Kushina needed medical attention more advanced than what either of her companions could render. She'd lapsed back into unconsciousness and Nagato and Minato had been taking turns carrying her.

"Still out of it," Nagato replied. "Her breathing hasn't gotten any weaker, though."

"Good. We should be coming on the village soon."

Nagato could almost smile as he thought of the people who let fear rule their lives and wondered what they would say if they knew he was carrying a "monster" on his back.

Nothing sane, he was sure.


	38. Others

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"I don't want them in here!" Kushina exclaimed, half-diving beneath her bleached sheets. The crown of her head was still plainly visible, giving the distinct impression that a lick of flame was emerging from a snow drift; Nagato resisted the urge to smile. Said smile dissolved from his face almost immediately as he realized why Kushina didn't want to see Yahiko or Konan.

"Why not?" Minato wasn't quite as quick to catch on as Nagato; he frowned bemusedly and reached out to touch her shoulder. "Kushina, Konan and Yahiko are both really worried about you. They want to know that you at least aren't going to keel over and die at any moment.

Kushina's face contorted hideously, the shiny chakra burn on the middle of her forehead distorting.

_Three… Two… One…_

"Oh." Minato's tone was flat and all Nagato could do was nod; he was sitting in the windowsill anyway and he wasn't sure either Minato or Kushina even realized he was still there. _Now you get it._

"Kushina… They're not going to care."

She shifted uncomfortably in bed, knotting the sheets in her hand. "You don't know that." The look she threw to Minato was a noticeably odd one.

Minato leaned closer over Kushina and, realizing what they were about to do a moment before it happened, Nagato cleared his throat, feeling his face going red. _Good grief; at least let me leave the room first. _"Ahem."

Minato pulled away and glared at him. "Nagato… You and Konan, in public, all the time. Need I say more?"

Nagato's blush deepened and Kushina laughed for the first time in days. _Glad to know she at least still knows how to do that. _"Nagato I don't know whether to call you super-shy or just a professional moment killer. You could always just close your eyes."

He found himself shaking his head. "No, that won't work. I can still see it all playing out in my head." Nagato narrowed his eyes at them both; Minato's expression was all too innocent (beneath it lurked the heart of evil) and Kushina still seemed to be trying not to laugh (As reassuring as it was to see levity on her face where recently there was only grimness, Nagato was still inclined to feel insulted. "Look, it's an intensely private moment. I don't want to witness it and I'm not leaving right now. So you two are just going to have to wait until I leave."

Kushina raised an eyebrow at Minato as they shared a secret smile. "Moment killer _and _arbitrarily bossy. Evidently someone never got past the latency stage of psychosexual development."

Nagato frowned suspiciously. Now _that_ was just low. "Did she just call me sexually repressed?" This was directed at Minato, who shrugged; he wasn't too familiar with that sort of stuff. "Because I'll have you know, I—"

That was the moment when Yahiko and Konan chose to come in threw the door. Nagato's mouth promptly clamped shut, another dull flush rising up his neck.

"Eep!" Letting out a most un-Kushina-like squeak, Kushina dove back under the covers, pulling the linen bed sheets up past her head.

Yahiko raised an eyebrow. "Anyone mind telling me why Kushina has suddenly regressed back to a shy five-year-old?"

"Hey!" An indignant shout was heard emanating from beneath the sheets.

Ignoring the theatrics (Nagato marveled at how, when it really mattered, Konan could shrug off all the dramatics around her with the graceful ease of a ballet dancer), Konan crossed the room and gently probed the protrusion of linen cloth. "Kushina… Why did you say you didn't want to see us when we came a few hours ago?"

"Because I'm too hideous to be looked upon right now?" Kushina put forth hopefully.

Okay, enough was enough. If Minato wasn't going to tell them, Nagato would, just to prove to Kushina that her friends weren't going to start treating her like she had the plague just because they found out she had a freaking bijuu sealed in her belly.

He shook his head, the early morning sunlight catching on his blood-red hair. "Kushina had a bit of an "outburst" while we were running the mission. One that involves her being the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune and the Kyuubi running rampant for a few minutes."

At this, Kushina was persuaded to rip the sheets from her head as she fixed Nagato in a white-lipped glare. "As soon as I can walk again I'm going to kill you," she whispered hoarsely.

Nagato shrugged. "You'd have to catch me first, so easier said than done."

Kushina whipped her suddenly terrified face to Yahiko and Konan.

Their reactions were… not quite what Kushina had expected (_feared_) they would be.

Yahiko shrugged as though he'd heard all this before. "It happens. Demonic rampages are a bit of an occupational hazard for jinchuuriki, or so I've been told."

Konan smiled gently at her younger friend. "The medics said you'd be able to leave soon, didn't they?"

All further conversation was cut off by the sound of Kushina's ear-shattering bawling, as Minato pulled her into a tight hug, her head resting at the crook of his neck and shoulder.

Yahiko frowned and caught Nagato's eye, as he came to stand by him. "Have we done something wrong?" he asked perplexedly, jerking his finger in the wailing kunoichi's direction.

Nagato could only shake his head as a wide smile broke, of its own will, over his face. "No, Yahiko. On the contrary, you have done something very, _very_ right."


	39. Why

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

It wasn't hard to keep his eyes on the ground when he reported to the Hokage. Nagato had been taught how to report into the Hokage—down on one knee with his eyes downcast respectfully and the mask firmly on—and even if he was supposed to report standing up he'd still have his eyes down to the floor.

He wasn't quite sure how to look at Sarutobi at the moment.

"What do you have for me?"

Nagato resisted the urge to shake his head. "Not much, I'm afraid. Orochimaru-san has been frequenting an old building in the industrial district, but we haven't been able to find anything within that suggests illegal activities. And the records state that Orochimaru-san owns the building, that he bought it five years ago; he has every right to be there."

Sarutobi sighed, putting a hand to his forehead. "That's what I thought. Keep trying; tell Kazumichi-taicho that he's to report to me again in a week." The Hokage had been rotating each member of the investigative squad as to reporting in to him to avoid drawing suspicion.

When Nagato didn't move from his half-prostrate position, Sarutobi frowned slightly, returning his brush to the ink pot. "Was there something else, Nagato?"

_Here goes… _Sucking in breath, Nagato nodded; now that they weren't speaking on an "official" level, he could do things like that. "Yes, Hokage-sama, there is. Uzumaki Kushina."

The Hokage's gaze was now somehow just as piercing as it was tiredly mild. "Has her conduct within ANBU not been up to standard?"

Nagato quickly shook his head. "No sir; her conduct has been exemplary. But I wanted to know why she was made the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

A pin could have been heard hitting the floor; Sarutobi gaped at him. "How did you…"

Beneath the otter mask, Nagato's jaw tightened. "The last mission she and I were on together, Kushina lost control of the Kyuubi for about three minutes. By the time her personality had reasserted itself, everyone but her, Minato and myself was dead. What I want to know is why it was her."

No one could have mistaken the repressed anger that had suddenly reared in his voice, let alone Sarutobi. It was funny; everyone thought Nagato to be one of the most mild-mannered people they knew, but what most never really learned that where his friends were concerned he was anything but mild.

The aging Hokage sighed, looking far older than his years—an old man, really. "Uzumaki Kushina was brought from Uzushiogakure as a small child. She was a political hostage to ensure Uzushio's cooperation with Konoha; our villages were not on the best of terms at times. When the Kyuubi's previous host, Kushina's kinswoman Uzumaki Mito—"

"Uzumaki Mito?" Nagato interrupted sharply. "The Shodai Hokage's wife?"

Sarutobi forgave the interruption. "Yes. When Uzumaki Mito fell ill, it was decided that Kushina, then six years old, would take her place as the jinchuuriki."

Nagato swallowed, as the full import of the information. "So… Let me get this straight. You chose Kushina to be the next host because she was a political hostage; you could do whatever you wanted with her and no one would be able to protest."

"The council ordered this," Sarutobi replied, eyes veiled. "Not I." He drew a deep breath and cast his gaze towards the rain-splattered, dark window. "Now, Nagato, if there is nothing else, you are dismissed."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

_That's no excuse._


	40. Kid

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Konan tensed immediately when a man came stumbling out of the thick undergrowth, the back of his hand pressed haphazardly over his mouth. The hand that had reflexively gone to her kunai pouch relaxed when she saw it was Yahiko.

That didn't mean there wasn't worry.

The kunoichi sprang to her feet, eyes scanning over her friend in concern. "Yahiko, are you alright?"

Yahiko nodded, sucking in his breath. "I…" He took his hand from his mouth, and didn't meet Konan's gaze. "I… think I just killed a kid," he choked out, and sank to the ground, face pale and hands wound in his hair. "Little boy, no older than nine, and armed to the teeth."

Konan stared at him. _Yahiko, I… I don't know what to say._

Yahiko hadn't cried when he made his first kill. He hadn't cried the first time he threw a kunai at random in battle and it hit a comrade instead of an enemy. He hadn't cried the first time he saw a friend cut down in front of him. He certainly hadn't cried when he was still a child and still claimed that Nagato and Ame no Kuni did enough crying for all of them.

And true to form, he didn't cry now.

But Konan could tell he wanted to.


	41. Dead

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

As he drifted back to consciousness, Nagato heard the unmistakable _beep _of a heart monitor and realized he was once again back in his least favorite place: a hospital. Whether it was a field hospital or the one of the ones back at Konoha Nagato couldn't tell; it was too dark in the room to make out any of the features that might have told him exactly which hospital he was now in.

Eyes with their multiple rings stared up at a dark ceiling, and Nagato felt his bones grow heavy as he remembered how he had ended up here.

Another mission against an Iwa supply line gone bad. The half a dozen Leaf shinobi sent to capture the supply wagon, and they were ambushed by no less than thirty Iwa nin. It had been a hard battle, so hard that Nagato had eventually found himself forced to use the Rinnegan. Enemy nin had gone flying, but even this wasn't enough to negate the fact that the Leaf had been outnumbered five to one, and it wasn't enough to turn the tide of battle.

Nagato knew this much: He was the only Leaf nin to survive that battle, and the Iwa got to keep their supply wagon as it went trundling over the Kannabi bridge.

_I'm the only one left alive; there's no one left._

Nagato swallowed as he remembered names and faces; he always made it a point to learn the names of the nin he went on missions with, and he always remembered their faces perfectly after they died, if they were killed. He remembered which one liked cats and which one liked dogs; which one liked soba and which one like sashimi; he remembered who was the genjutsu user and who was the medic. He remembered everything.

_Why is there so much death? There's so much death and there shouldn't be, there shouldn't have to be so much._

Blackness swallowed him whole again.


	42. Realization

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

When Nagato awakens again, it is morning and there's light glimmering on the window like dew and filtering through the panes to bathe the room in sun.

That's when he starts to notice things.

He's plainly not in a Konohagakure hospital—Nagato's been in both of the hospitals in Konoha and the rooms of both are considerably better-equipped than this room. Alright, so he must be in a field hospital.

But wait. This doesn't look like any Hi no Kuni field hospital Nagato's ever seen.

And there's more.

Nagato tries to sit up in bed and can't, immediately feeling pressure against his chest and wrists when he tries. He's been hand-cuffed to the bed by both wrists and there's a leather strap across the middle of his chest.

The final straw driving him to revelation is when Nagato looks down at his bare chest.

There's a black spiral on the middle of his chest underneath the strap, with six lines radiating out from the border of the spiral. A chakra seal.

Nagato falls back in bed, gritting his teeth and swallowing hard.

_Oh, Hell…_


	43. Decision

While most of the Iwagakure nin shown in the manga have had dark hair, I like to portray them as having mostly fair (blond or red) hair and pale (blue, green or gray) eyes. I don't know why. So I've got a theory I want you guys to use here: if an Iwa nin has dark hair, he/she is either related to the Sandaime Tsuchikage in some way, or they're not from around Iwagakure.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

"There's a reason I called you here," Rokurou addressed the three standing in the darkened alcove with him. Shunsuke, Aoki and Izumi didn't look entirely comfortable with the arrangements, but there was nowhere else where Rokurou could ensure they wouldn't be overheard.

Izumi snorted, folding her arms around her chest. "So there's a reason you called us to a claustrophobe's worst nightmare, huh?" Aoki shushed her and she quieted down.

The leader of the group glared briefly at her before nodding. "Yes Izumi, there is. As I'm sure you're all aware, we have a new prisoner in the hospital."

Yes, they were all aware. The little Iwa base didn't get new meat very often and this one looked like prime rib to the eyes of Iwa nin. Especially the more bloodthirsty ones like Aoki and Izumi.

Aoki drudged up a nasty smirk to his slightly drooping mouth—scars on one side prevented it from responding like it used to be. "Yeah, fresh meat alright." He cracked his knuckles. "I'm going to look forward to this."

Rokurou's blue-gray eyes fixed him in a piercing stare. "Actually, no you won't."

"What?" Aoki asked sharply. "And why not?"

Always, Rokurou had been described among his fellows as one of imperturbable, even unnerving calm. With his fair hair and skin and pale eyes, he looked like nothing so much as well… Something intimidating, even to Aoki. "He's a Konohagakure ANBU," Rokurou replied as though this explained everything.

Izumi's dirty blonde hair seemed to crackle. "All the more reason to kill him, Rokurou. If he gets out of that room and deactivates the chakra seal we're all going to be in a world of hurt—you know how ANBU are!"

"We're not going to kill him."

Izumi's eyebrows shot up to hide beneath her hitai-ate. "We're _not_ going to kill him," she repeated slowly. "And why not?"

Finally, taciturn Shunsuke spoke up. "Because of the ANBU's high rank, he may know something about Leaf troop movements and the direction their supply lines take. That's valuable information, Izumi."

Rokurou nodded to Shunsuke. "Well one of you seems to get it."

Aoki didn't skip a beat. A twisted, lopsided grin spread over his face. "Let me interrogate him. I'll get the intel out of this little pansy, you'll see."

"No!" Rokurou snapped. "We're trying to get information out of him, not kill him. I know you, Aoki. You always get your confession but nine time out of ten the prisoner dies in the process. You like blood too much."

"Then what would you suggest?" Shunsuke asked, dark eyes narrowing.

A thin smirk twitched on Rokurou's lips. "Are there any genjutsu users here that any of you know of?" Genjutsu wasn't necessarily a widely practiced art in Iwagakure; in a place where brutality was valued over all else, illusions weren't really given much thought.

The three looked among each other. Then, Izumi spoke up. "Just two. Haiirou Mitsunobu and Ishidorou Kiyomi."

At the second name, recognition flitted over Rokurou's face. "Ishidorou… Yeah, I know her." His eyes snapped to Aoki. "Aoki, go find Ishidorou and tell her to come find me."

Aoki nodded. "Hai." He stepped out of the alcove.

After the others were gone, Shunsuke put a hand on Rokurou's shoulder. "Rokurou-dono, there's something I want to ask you."

The base's leader shrugged mildly. "Fire away."

Shunsuke's usually stoic was furrowed with confusion. "Why Ishidorou? Haiirou Mitsunobu has more combat experience?"

Rokurou's demeanor remained mild. "As a rule, men being interrogated tend to be a little more at ease if their interrogator is a woman; I've never been sure why, but there you go. Moreover, Ishidorou's good and she's persistent. She'll get what we need."


	44. Report

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Maybe they could be forgiven for not getting worried after the first day or so went by and the team hadn't reported back in. After all, missions during war often got sidetracked or delayed or they were finished on time and the shinobi running them were often a lot slower getting back to the village than they were getting there; they had to watch out for enemy nin up the yin-yang and none of them had any intention of leading them straight through the defenses guarding their village. Of course, his friends told themselves, Nagato might be a little later getting back than planned.

After a week passed though, his absence was getting harder to ignore.

Konan refused to say a word to anyone on the subject—wouldn't discuss it, wouldn't even bring Nagato's name up in conversation. Whenever someone tried to talk about Nagato to her or in her presence, her jaw would clench, her shoulders would tense and Yahiko at her side would slash his hand across his throat to make them stop.

Yahiko annoyed Shikaku to tears with his constant wondering and worrying (sorry, _not_-worrying; Yahiko would never admit to worrying about a fellow man, at least not as strongly as he was over Nagato), never ever letting up on the topic except when Konan was in the room. Shikaku's fiancée was considerably more sympathetic For all her toughness Yoshino knew exactly what _that_ was like; she was always ready to supply the tissues whenever Yahiko got something in his eye, which was often.

Kushina disappeared into ANBU, only showing up to steal food from a certain friend's fridge (much to Konan's ire; she didn't like having her sleep interrupted for _anything_) at three in the morning.

Minato and Jiraiya both tried to pretend nothing was happening. They still grinned and joked and talked about seals and toads and genin (Jiraiya hadn't taken on another team but he was currently covering for a jonin stuck in the hospital) and when they were going to get another mission.

Finally, Yahiko got a hold of someone who had been in the general area of the Kannabi Bridge.

They had a mission report.

Yahiko's brow furrowed as he looked over the list of casualties.

_KIA (Killed In Action):_

_Hyuuga Fumihiro, Jonin  
Kodo Kuri, ANBU operative  
Maruyama Tatsuo, Chunin, medic  
Miyazaki Soutarou, Tokubetsu Jonin  
Yuurei Kenta, Jonin, mission head_

No Nagato.

When Yahiko's eyes went down the line, the report said that the battle was ostensibly an Iwa victory, since there were no enemy bodies found there.

Finally, he scrolled down to the bottom of the paper. For some reason that Yahiko had never been able to understand, in mission reports during wartime the MIA lists were always reserved for last.

_MIA (Missing In Action, Presumed Captured or Deceased):_

_Nagato, ANBU operative_

Yahiko swallowed hard. He wondered how he was going to tell the others.


	45. Frantic

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

The news was like a tidal wave dropping on the shoulders of those who know him and Nagato could not have anticipated the way his disappearance would affect his friends when they realized what had happened to him.

A P.O.W., prisoner of war. That could be the only explanation, they all soon realized. Jiraiya was the one who had pointed it out; he had more experience, he'd seen the corpses of friends who'd been "interrogated" by the Iwa.

"_You realize what's likely happened, don't you? There's an Iwa base near where he meant missing, and we all know what Rock nin do to their captives."_

Yahiko and Konan both looked like they were going to be sick. Minato and Kushina immediately went into the next room—the latter looked about ready to have one of her famous outbursts and Minato was trying to calm her.

Jiraiya knew how they felt.

He'd seen it before. The waiting, the hoping—oh, the hoping—and ultimately the disappointment.

"Damn this is awful," he muttered to himself later over a saucer of sake.

Jiraiya had seen it before with other nin, but he'd never had it happen to one of his own. Not one of his own students. But he knew better than to try to storm a base full of enemy nin just for the sake of one. Over the years, he'd learned—Konoha needed him elsewhere and Nagato, Nagato was tough.

_The kid will just have to survive on his own._

That didn't give Jiraiya much comfort.


	46. POW

Okay, long chapter; longest chapter yet. Who's with me?

I don't own Naruto.

* * *

The room was much like his cell, but Nagato could tell it was larger when his eyes explored the shadows that melted away into darkness. It was completely black except for the little lamp with its candle flickering and melting away within, resting on top of the table. Nagato sat at the chair on the far side from the chair, and his interrogator sat across from him.

Admittedly, despite his time in ANBU Nagato had little experience with interrogation. They told him he was too "nice" to be able to assist and directed him to patrol and high-profile missions.

"Nice". That word both made Nagato want to laugh and left a bad taste in his mouth. All of his companions on dayside supported no opinion other than that Nagato had been getting progressively more abrupt in his killing and frankly more aggressive in battle over the years. He still didn't want to use the Rinnegan unless in extremity, both out of personal distaste (Nagato knew just how much the Uchiha relied on their Sharingan and the Hyuuga on their Rinnegan) and because he knew better than to do something that would make him a target; ANBU were supposed to be discreet. He didn't drag out death (Nagato had never had and frankly didn't think he would ever have an appetite for pain) but he didn't spare enemies if they came at him.

Everyone said he was getting less "nice" on the battlefield. Everybody except ANBU apparently, and for that they steered him away from the little dank chambers in the underground levels of headquarters.

For his limited experience with interrogation, Nagato couldn't help but think that his interrogator (for there could be no other explanation for why he was there) was a bit unorthodox.

She was a tall, full-figured young woman, likely around the same age as Nagato. Her hair was fair and her eyes were pale and there was a translucent smattering of freckles over her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. Coldly beautiful, nothing on the scale of Konan or Tsunade, but still fair and cold.

And she wore the smile of an alligator, candle flashing on a thin show of teeth.

With a flick of the eyes she took in his tattoo. "So you're in Konohagakure's ANBU?"

Nagato raised an eyebrow. "Did your comrades not see the mask I was wearing when they found me?"

The interrogator's smile grew on one side and she tapped her cheek with a finger. "Hh-hmm, yes, we did. I was just trying to confirm for the record. Now, _for_ the record—" her voice became considerably more businesslike "—please state your name, registration number and exact rank. We like to have those for report purposes."

_Of course you do. _Nagato leaned back in his chair and did his best to look as bored as possible. "Senju Hashirama, 000001, King of the Undying Lands. Anything else?"

With that, the room seemed to get a little colder. The interrogator's smile never broke but the smile no longer reached her eyes, now like chips of ice. "I wasn't under the impression that rudeness was something they taught ANBU in Konohagakure."

Nagato didn't answer, and she went on, laying her hands down on her lap. "My name is Ishidorou Kiyomi. You can call me Ishidorou-san. Now, will you do the same?" Her tone was eerily reminiscent of a grade school teacher addressing her youngest students. "Such a simple thing as your name; surely you won't cling to that like a fool. This is not a place for secrets."

_Oh? I was unaware of that. _Shoulders tensing involuntarily, Nagato resisted the urge to lick his lips and narrowed his eyes at Ishidorou. "What exactly is keeping me here?"

She tilted her head to one side, the smile fading to be replaced by an expression of mock curiosity. "I don't know what you mean."

"Oh, I think you do." Nagato nodded to her bare arms. "You don't have a lot of muscle; you're smaller than me." He allowed a perfunctory scan of what portion of her body could be seen over the table. "You're also unarmed, unless you've got senbon in your boots. Even with my chakra sealed I could knock you out and leave. I could strangle you," he added softly, "or crack your neck if you weren't able to stop me in time. I could force open the door and escape. What's keeping me here?"

For a moment, Ishidorou was completely silent. She stared at Nagato, eyes veiled and inscrutable.

Then…

"This." Her hands moved in a blur of signs, and the room was filled with water.

-0-

"Are you ready to play nicely?"

This was what Nagato first heard when the water subsided. He was on the floor, coughing, letting his screaming lungs fill up with air and shaking the water beads out of his sodden hair. In a clatter of hollow footsteps, Ishidorou was standing over him.

"There was never any water."

Nagato managed to look up at her; his eyes were blurring and he saw a vague, hazy vision of two women standing over him. "What?"

A breathtakingly gentle smile followed. "There was never any water."

"No, that—"

"There was never any water. You aren't even wet."

"Wha—" Genjutsu. Nagato turned his eyes back down on the floor and squeezed them shut. Genjutsu. And him, in no position to dispel the illusion. He barely even knew how genjutsu _worked_—Jiraiya had always focused on ninjutsu when it came to training Nagato.

Ishidorou crouched down beside him. "Now, I ask again. Will you play nicely this time? No more cheap tricks, no more tall tales, no more lies? I won't even ask you for your name; we don't _really_ need it." Her light, whimsical tone filled up the whole room.

"There's something I want to know, something you're going to tell me." Her voice was more serious, as it had been when asking his name. "Which roads do the Leaf use to transport weapons and foodstuffs? It's very important that you tell me soon."

Nagato swallowed. So this was what it came down to. "I don't know," he replied, looking for an opening. _Does she carry the keys to this room on her?_

Ishidorou caught him sneaking glances at her belt. "We're both locked in," came the singsong response. "Can't get in or out unless I call—and I won't. Tell you what, I'm going to give you one more chance to tell the truth. What roads do the Leaf use to transport supplies? Tell me all of them and tell me now."

"I don't know."

"I said no more lies."

This time, it was fire.

-0-

Nagato watched dully as the black marks receded from his skin and the flesh rearranged itself into what it had been before facing flames. He still trembled with pain but the injuries were completely gone.

"You didn't scream even once; I'm amazed."

_That_ was it. Following the sound of that voice Nagato sprang to his feet. Hands connected with coarse material and Ishidorou laughed contemptuously as she was slammed against a wall. "Do you honestly think that will be enough?" She disappeared in a puff of smoke.

_Kage Bunshin._

Footsteps, slow and leisurely, sounded from behind. "How about I ask something else, since you seem to be unforthcoming about supply lines? When is the next general mobilization of Konohagakure troops? Why has there been so little activity on the front lines over the past few months? I doubt that it has _everything_ to do with a renewed focus on defeating the Sand nin."

"I have nothing to say to you," Nagato responded, spitting when he saw Ishidorou's boots.

Hands arranged themselves into signs. "I would have thought you'd want to stop the pain."

-0-

In the flames, Nagato thought of home. He thought of Konan, he thought of Yahiko, of Jiraiya, of Minato and Kushina and Kakashi, of anything that could take his mind off of pain.

The ANBU, long patrols and grueling missions and nothing to show for it but the beating of his own heart and the thought that Konoha still stood at the end of the day. Nagato wasn't sure when he'd started to think of Konoha as home but he was only realizing it now, as flames let flesh slide from bone. He realized it as the air seared his lungs into ash and stone. He realized it as his blood evaporated.

Nagato was going to get out, he kept telling himself. He wasn't going to tell the Iwa anything, and he would get out. He was going to bust out or someone would come for him, and he would go _home_.

-0-

"Since you don't want to tell me anything about your village, why don't you tell me something about yourself?"

She always waited a few seconds to start asking questions after the flames subsided. Nagato could only suppose that Ishidorou felt the need to let him get his breath.

"I was noticing those eyes of yours." Nagato felt his blood run cold. _Not that; don't ask about that. _"It looks like a dojutsu." Ishidorou had adopted the demeanor of a curious child and nothing could be more poisonous. "I've never seen anything like it before. What is it? I'm curious to know."

No. He wasn't telling her that. Nagato knew where this would end up—_him strapped on a table and eventually eye-less_—and he wasn't telling her that. "Go to Hell," he croaked, and a soft humming filled the room.

"Fine. Be that way. We can go on all night. Into the morning, as well, if you remain so recalcitrant."


End file.
